Donation of vaccine to the third world

There is much talk of United Kingdom giving up part of its vaccine supply, perhaps even sacrificing the immunisation of young people, in favour of the third world. In February, prime minister Johnson was sympathetic, promising to donate surplus vaccine ... On the eve of the G7 meeting in Cornwall, he went further, pressing "leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations to make a commitment to vaccinate the entire world against COVID-19 by the end of 2022"   

Reuter's reports:
Johnson will host the first in-person summit in almost two years of G7 leaders - which follows a meeting of the group's finance ministers which wrapped up earlier in the day - and said he would seek a pledge to hit the global vaccination goal. read more

"Vaccinating the world by the end of next year would be the single greatest feat in medical history," Johnson said in a statement. "I’m calling on my fellow G7 leaders to join us to end this terrible pandemic and pledge we will never allow the devastation wreaked by coronavirus to happen again."

The leaders of Germany, France, the United States, Italy, Japan, the European Union and Canada will join Johnson for the three-day summit in Cornwall, southwest England, which begins on Friday. It will be the first overseas trip for U.S. President Joe Biden since he took office in January. While the richest nations have been vaccinating large numbers of their populations, many poorer countries have not had the same access to vaccines. And health experts have warned that unless more COVID shots were donated, the virus will continue to spread and mutate.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in London for the finance ministers meeting, said it was urgent for the richest nations to promote vaccinations in poorer countries that could not afford to buy them.

She also repeated the U.S. position that patent rights should be removed for the vaccines, and said they were doing everything they could to address supply chain problems that were preventing a build-up of shots in other parts of the world.

Britain has ordered more than 500 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for its population of 67 million and says it will donate any shots it does not need.

One must be cautious, though. Just releasing a block of vaccine into the general pool with no idea of what will be done with it could be a mistake. Already, Malawi has destroyed nearly 20,000 doses which have expired and the Democratic Republic of Congo has returned 1.3m which the nation cannot use before the expiry date. It is believed that other nations which have received vaccine from the OAU or the Covax scheme may be in the same situation. It has clearly been a mistake to release large quantities of vaccine at one go. Apart from the logistical problems of getting enough vaccine quickly to all parts with sufficient trained staff to administer it, there has been unexpectedly high vaccine resistance among the people who should benefit from it.

I would suggest that a more sure way of delivering the vaccine would be in bilateral arrangements, that is, that advanced nations such as the UK arrange with partners in the third world to supply and administer vaccine. We have gained expertise and staff whose training may go to waste as our own mass vaccination programme runs down. We would in a sense "adopt" third-world countries to get the job done there. It would be best to start with those in the Commonwealth or with those with which we have historical ties - Mozambique and Nepal come immediately to mind.

But first let us ensure that everyone (refuseniks apart) in the UK is protected. This is not just selfishness. We are among the most travelling populations on earth. It should be remembered that the virus was brought into this country in the first place by vacationers returning from hotspots on the continent of Europe. (This is probably a major factor in South Africa's plight, too.) Let us do the rest of the world a favour by not re-exporting it.