National Nurses United

A global pandemic requires global solutions, but you wouldn't know that by looking at the race to roll out a successful Covid-19 vaccine. "When the pandemic started, there was cause for global solidar- ity," said Leena Menghaney, of Doctors Without Borders, at a recent webinar hosted by Global Nurses United. Unfortunately, calls for working together turned out to be empty words, Menghaney said, as rich countries have hoarded doses of vaccines. According to Oxfam, some rich countries representing just 14 percent of the world's population have bought up more than half of the most promising vaccines—enough to inoculate their entire pop- ulations nearly three times over if each vaccine they purchased is successful. Canada topped the charts, purchasing enough doses to vaccinate each person in Canada five times. Meanwhile, nearly 70 countries will only be able to vaccinate one in 10 people in 2021. The People's Vaccine alliance, including Oxfam, Amnesty International, Frontline AIDS, and Global Justice Now, analyzed deals done between countries and the eight leading vaccine candidates' manufacturers. They found 67 low and lower middle-income countries could be "left behind, as rich countries move towards their escape route from the pandemic." This is despite the fact that everyday people, including people in developing countries, may have participated in vaccine clinical trials. "Governments have contributed tremendously, and people have contributed by entering into clinical trials. So there is a collective development of these vaccines," said Menghaney. "Having said that, when it comes to the issue of whether the benefits will run to the people who have funded the research and contributed to clinical trials, there is no guarantee." The question of equitable distribution is more pressing than ever as several vaccines have already begun being administered around the globe. The United Kingdom cleared a vaccine candidate from Pfizer and BioNTech SE on Dec. 2. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States cleared the same shot for emergency use on Dec. 11. A shot from Moderna Inc. appears not far behind in the United States. Other candidates are moving forward and have been used under similar emergency use approvals in other countries, including Russia, China, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. In the United States, the Covid-19 vaccines are being rolled out in limited doses across the country, but they have not completed the regular FDA approval process. They have instead applied for emer- gency use authorization. These vaccines are technically, as the FDA has asserted, investigational products. That said, a vaccine that is safe and does work—along with opti- mal PPE and other medical equipment, a comprehensive testing and case isolation program, and other protections—could go a long way toward getting the pandemic under control and saving lives. That is only true, however, if the vaccine rollout addresses the fact that Covid-19 has no borders. 18 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G O C T O B E R | N O V E M B E R | D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 0 Not By a Long Shot As Covid-19 vaccines begin to roll out, will some countries and people be left behind? By Kari Jones

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