What is the vaccine nationalism?
Vaccine nationalism is an unethical mechanism of securing the doses of the vaccine of any epidemic or pandemic disease by a country for its domestic market before the completion of human trials of the vaccine. By this process, a country makes deal with the companies that are manufacturing the vaccine and lands on an agreement to avail the vaccine reserved for their country before it is made available to the other countries.
Which countries are engaged in vaccine nationalism? (COVID_19)
The USA, Japan, UK, and European Union are the top countries that have already made agreements with the top giant companies that are on different stages of trial of manufacturing the Covid-19 vaccine. These countries have a high economy and resources as well so they are able to invest in companies like Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca-Oxford.
Why is vaccine nationalism in news these days?
Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has raised concerns about the matters related to vaccine nationalism that can create havoc, and countries with a poor economy will be debarred of the vaccine in early stages. For the same WHO has come up with initiative termed as “Covax Facility”. The aim of Covax-Facility is to have the procurement of two billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of 2020. It also aims to distribute those vaccines to low-income and middle-income countries.
What is Covax-Facility?
Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility is that will provide an equitable and fair opportunity for every country to procure the COVID-19 vaccine. There will be an agreement that will be signed by the different countries to have the benefits of this opportunity. It will also ensure that the country that manufactures the vaccine first will be allowed to secure 20% of vaccines for their country and rest will be distributed among the other countries that are in need.
Will Covax-Facility provide benefits?
Yes, covax-facility will provide benefit but only after each and every country signs the agreement because if countries with a high economy don’t sign the agreement then the objective of this facility will not be upheld.
Vaccine nationalism has its effect on public health globally, even though there are no international laws that helps to prevent or stop such unethical activity.
What are the drawbacks of vaccine nationalism?
If countries start vaccine nationalism then it results in countries with fewer resources and makes the bargaining difficult for other countries. Moreover, if countries having a large number of cases lags behind in procuring the vaccine then they will suffer the most which will also result in the economic loss. The economic loss in any country can result in some sort of butterfly effect that will ultimately affect the global economy.
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