Nationalism casts a shadow over the Covid-19 vaccine race 3
Governments around the world have failed to unite in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Washington Post commentator Adam Taylor, `vaccine nationalism` won another victory this week, when the US announced it would not participate in the Global Covid-19 Vaccine Access (Covax) project, led by the World Health Organization.
The US absence is a major blow to the project, which strives to overcome vaccination inequality.
A volunteer tested the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Moderna in Detroit, USA last month.
However, the US is not alone in this choice.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said on September 1 that the US is not `constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by WHO and China`.
Russia also refused to participate in the Covax plan.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying announced on September 2 that Beijing would support and coordinate with the Covax project, but made no commitments to this plan.
Covax supporters remain optimistic, pointing to many other wealthy countries backing the initiative.
Taylor said it’s important to consider why vaccine nationalism seems to be winning.
If a country develops its own vaccine domestically or orders millions of doses abroad, it will have first access to the vaccine.
The US has invested $10 billion in potential vaccine candidates, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
If a country successfully develops a vaccine, they will have the opportunity to distribute it to many other countries.
Some experts say vaccine competition is healthy and even a good idea in some respects.
However, most vaccine researchers disagree with this view.
The Wall Street Journal reported on September 1 that a number of major countries have reached agreements to provide each other with nearly 4 billion doses of the developing nCoV vaccine, accounting for almost all of the world’s production and leaving only very little.
Supply problems are only just beginning.
Protest against mandatory vaccination in Boston, USA on August 30.
Vaccination programs also have varying success rates.
Covax is expected to help solve some of the above problems, but is not a perfect solution, according to Adam Taylor.
But the US and a number of countries still rejected the plan, betting on Operation Speed and many other national solutions.
`If you see large outbreaks of a virus that mutates, adapts to humans and then spreads, you will never solve it,` he said.
