Our vocabulary has been enriched in 2020. In first half of this year we went through 'quarantine', 'lockdown', 'plasma therapy' like words and now in second half we are encountering the words like 'herd immunity', ' clinical trial', 'corona vaccine' etc. In these 2020 dictionary one more word should be added and that is 'vaccine nationalism'.
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This word is neither patriotic nor scientific. It is a straight indicator of a race towards vaccine. World is waiting for the antidote of this global pandemic and the vaccine is considered as a solution of this problem atleast. In the beginning of 2020 when corona virus has started spreading all over the world, every country was confused and trying to get help globally. Such countries started talking on helping hand philosophy and what else you can do when you're helpless? But silently developed countries put another hand on vaccine development.
Scientists from all over the world joined to search the new vaccine for the novel virus and the spreading capacity of this virus lead them to speed up this process. At the same time, governments of developed countries began working on back-room deals to lock in their access to these vaccines ahead of anyone else. The selfishness to occupy all of the new vaccine doses for own population first leaving behind the other countries is called 'vaccine nationalism'.
So what's wrong? If I have enough sources or money, why can't I buy vaccine for my people in advance? Definitely, it's a first impression in our minds. You don't know the mechanism and doses required for the population of your country and you are pre-purchasing more than you need will create a shortage all over the world. The US, the UK, France, Canada, and Russia have already entered into multi-million-dollar agreements with vaccine producers even before the final trial phase is over. Corona virus can be only neutralised from the world if 70% of global population get the vaccine and the condition is vaccine should be 90 to 95% effective. But most of world's population are occupied by developing and poor countries. So in this scenario they have to wait for a long time to receive the corona vaccine and other side developed countries will make an excess of novel vaccine for its population safety purpose. This may lead the pandemic lasting longer. Hoarding of novel vaccine may also hike the price and ultimately it will be available to other countries at very high cost. That's not the true humanity in such pandemic. It is against the global public health principles. There are no provisions in international laws to prevent this pre-purchase aggrements.
It's not first time when this nationalism on vaccine distribution created the global threat. Anti-retroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV patients were unavailable in Africa, the worst affected region, for several years after being developed in the 1990s. Africa was the origin of HIV and kept away from the life saving drugs for years. That shows the intentions of the developed countries.
Though WHO can't overcome these contractual obligations due to lack of international laws, WHO took an initiative for the even distribution of the corona vaccine. WHO’s fair access mechanism called COVAX Global Vaccines Facility would be the ‘fastest way to end the pandemic’. WHO appealed the mighty countries to join COVAX and many big countries including China has joined it.
WHO seeks to achieve this by ensuring that all participating countries will be provided supplies to cover at least 20% of their high risk populations, at fair uniform price. Member countries will share their production to the other needy countries and the countries which aren't able to get the vaccine on itself will get benefit from it.
The very first polio vaccine was introduced in 1950, but until 1964 the vaccine became available in India. And now India is polio free and almost distributer of the 60% vaccine stock to the developing countries all over the world. At that time vaccine nationalism by developed countries had made India 'Aatmanirbhar' very early for vaccine production. WHO and the whole world know that there is no possibility to provide vaccine to the whole world in short time without help of India, the largest manufacturer and global pharma hub. That's why WHO is talking for a month with India to participate in COVAX though India is still thinking on it. World's big pharma names also want to collaborate with India because even if they invent the new vaccine, they ain't eligible for mass production in shorter time span.
The Serum Institute of India in Pune, has an agreement to manufacture one billion doses of coronavirus vaccine being developed by scientists at the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca if it is approved for use. The world’s largest vaccine manufacturer — Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) — also said that it will be 2024 before the world can produce enough vaccines for everyone.
So, even if a citizen from the US or any other high-income countries has been vaccinated by next year, we do not know if they will remain immune till 2024, by which time they are likely to come in contact with someone who has not yet received the shot. Until and unless all countries are able to achieve herd immunity, vaccination doesn’t guarantee a safe seat for anyone, anywhere.
India is a generous country and will definitely join the COVAX or make an alternate way to provide its manufacturing power to the developing countries. India has power to fullfill own requirements simultaneously. The example of Hydroxychloroquine exportation shows that India has ultimate production power to supply the essentials to the world. We may on third or fourth position in the world for the development of novel corona vaccine, but we will definitely on top when it will be time to relieve the grief of humanity.
The world has no Amazing Spiderman or Krrish who can spread antidote in a single night to vaccinate the mass population but world has India which can make it nearly possible.
Final Funda: India isn't on top to file patents to encash the profit and credit but India is definately on top of the world when it's time to show the humanity.
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