Some Developing Countries Have Not Received a Single Dose of the Covid-19 Vaccine

I have asked myself several times what it will take for developing countries to stand on their own two feet. For some reason, some of our leaders continue to rely on rich countries for help all the damn time. And that is why we find ourselves in this mess of not having enough or no Covid-19 vaccine at all.

For example, my country Cameroon is a participant in the COVAX initiative and has not received any Covid-19 vaccine yet. And I found it odd that up till now we had not received it yet. As reported by BBC News Pidgin, Cameroon had not received any vaccine yet due to the conditions not fulfilled put by World Health Organization (WHO) [1]. I am not exactly sure what those conditions are before one can receive the Covid-19 vaccine. If I tell you that I am surprised by this revelation of my country Cameroon not receiving the Covid-19 vaccine yet due to failed conditions not met, I will be lying.

For some time now there have been talks for developing countries to be able to have the capacity to produce and manufacture their vaccines. To boost the production of Covid-19 vaccines for developing countries, rich countries were called to waive patent for the vaccines [2]. Unfortunately, these rich members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) blocked a push by over 80 developing countries to waive patent rights [2].

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus supported the idea of having the patent waived and argued that waiving the patent temporarily will not mean innovators will miss out [3]. If developing countries were producing and manufacturing their vaccines, we will not find ourselves in this mess right now. It is as though our lives are in the hands of the rich.

While developing countries have the potential to produce and manufacture vaccines, I am conflicted on this issue. We always have good intentions and plans but those responsible for executing always fall short. Greed, poor management, and maintenance of these manufacturing facilities will be the downfall of making this a reality.

References

1. Cameroonians above 50 wit health issues, go bi among first pipo for take Covid-19 vaccine - BBC News Pidgin. (2021). Retrieved 3 April 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/world-56235715

2. DG calls on COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to increase production in developing countries. (2021). Retrieved 3 April 2021, from https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news21_e/dgno_09mar21_e.htm

3. Waive Covid vaccine patents to put world on war footing. (2021). Retrieved 3 April 2021, from https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/waive-covid-vaccine-patents-to-put-world-on-war-footing