What Went Wrong With Covax?
2 Min Read
Vaccine shortages render poor countries dangerously unprotected as the Delta variant spins out of control.
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Covax is threatened with failure
The Covax program was expected to be a worldwide powerhouse, a multibillion-dollar partnership of international health organizations and nonprofits that would ensure that poor countries received vaccine shots at the same pace as rich countries, according to The New York Times.
However, Covax has faced difficulty acquiring doses, standing half a billion shy of its goal.
The urgent need to vaccinate the entire planet extends well beyond the protection of citizens in impoverished countries. Even for vaccinated people in rich nations, the longer the virus circulates, the more deadly it may become.
When 100,000 doses of the vaccine arrived in Chad in June, the Covid-19 death rate was on the rise across Africa. Despite this, Chad's Health Minister said that 94,000 doses remained unused after five weeks. Only 267 injections were administered each day in nearby Benin, a pace so sluggish that 110,000 of the AstraZeneca's doses expired.
According to the newspaper, poor nations are dangerously vulnerable as the Delta variant spins out of control, which is the scenario Covax was designed to prevent. Experts fear that without billions of more shots, new variants will continue to emerge, putting all nations at risk.
Dr. Ayoade Alakija, a co-chair of the African Union's vaccine distribution program, said, "Covax hasn't failed, but it is failing." “We truly don't have any other choices. Covax must work for the benefit of humanity.”
The New York Times mentioned that the EU's Foreign Policy Officer criticized the EU for providing insufficient vaccines to Africa and Latin America, allowing China to accomplish the task.
