Asian Angle | ‘Vaccine apartheid’: how white privilege is woven into the fabric of globalisation
- The roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines, with poor countries far behind, has exposed the moral bankruptcy and structural privilege of Western nations
- What can be done? They should shed their ideas of moral authority and a monopoly on scientific expertise, even amid insecurity about China’s rise
But for billions around the world, that same feeling of relief will not come for months, if not years, and many are resigned to it. Global organisations have warned that controlling the pandemic will take years under the current rate of vaccination. The OECD said some poor countries may not be able to start vaccination campaigns until 2024.
The Covax Facility, the WHO’s initiative to get vaccines to these countries, has according to some sources, only raised only a third of its predicted budget. According to the UN, 10 countries have administered 75% of all vaccinations worldwide while 130 countries have yet to receive a single dose. G7 countries have secured enough vaccines for each of their citizens to be vaccinated three times over and thereby undermining the Covax effort.
The vaccine has exposed the moral bankruptcy of rich Western nations, who are poor in action despite being rich in rhetoric.
Winnie Byanyima, currently of UNAids and formerly of Oxfam, proposed that “we are witness to a vaccine apartheid”, where poor countries are unable to purchase vaccines at the same scale and price as rich countries.
The virtual G7 meeting last month attempted to address this accusation yet statements by Western leaders revealed how out of touch they are with non-Western positions about making the vaccine a global good. Instead, they seem fixated on maintaining an ill-conceived notion about the superiority of Western values and ensuring that vaccines from China and Russia are not used as instruments of diplomacy.
