If there is one thing that the COVID 19 pandemic has shown us, it is the fact that we are all now part of a global village. No country is an island, nor can it hope to be one – neither in terms of geography, economy, nor health or even culture. No country has been able to escape the contagion in spite of their best efforts at sealing borders, locking down civil society or restricting travel. We have seen how the Omicron variant has appeared in different parts of the world so quickly. However we have also seen now international cooperation and aid helps us all survive. In spite of this, shortsighted self-interest seems to have dictated the behaviour of some. This video explains.
Epidemiologist and health economist Eric Feigl-Ding posted this video to demonstrate what he calls ‘Vaccine Hoarding’. Now with the advent of the Omicron variant, this is again a hot button topic.
The video humorously illustrates how some countries are being shortsighted in the way that they are privileging self-interest over the larger interest. With COVID we have seen – as we have with social justice in general – that no one is safe unless everyone is safe.
High income countries have cornered the market on vaccines while lower income countries are struggling. Dr. Feigl-Ding calls this vaccine apartheid; where some nations are lagging behind based on their buying power.
While some countries simply don’t have enough vaccines for their population, other countries have vaccine stockpiles far in excess of their requirements.
In the US, the anti-vaxxer lobby is a potent social and political force. US is also the country that has more vaccines than it can use; vaccines that may be better utilised in places like South Africa that are reeling under the Omicron onslaught.
Part of the problem is that the intellectual property /patents for vaccine manufacture have not been made generally available in the larger public interest. There is a strong feeling that big pharma is privileging profit over the public good here.
Manufacturing capability, distribution systems, medical infrastructure are other problems, points out this tweet.
Richer countries could afford it and so stockpiled more vaccines than they could use and administer. There is the apprehension that vaccines could expire before they are administered.
Many have called for making the vaccine patents available for free universally so that anyone with the capacity can start to manufacture the vaccine. The sooner people all over the world are vaccinated, the sooner we are all safer.
But apparently it is not. If COVID has shown us how the world is now a global village, it has also shown us how petty self-interest and shortsightedness continue to plague humanity as a whole as well.
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