A report by Oxfam on Wednesday stated that a group of rich nations, who represent 13 percent of the global population, have already bought up more than half of promised future COVID-19 vaccines.
The report prepared by Oxfam has analysed deals struck by pharmaceuticals and vaccine producers for the five leading vaccine candidates currently in late-stage trials – AstraZeneca, Gamaleya/Sputnik, Moderna, Pfizer and Sinovac. Their report is based on data collected by the analytics company Airfinity.
According to Oxfam’s calculations, the combined production capacity of the five vaccine candidates is about 5.9 billion doses. This would be enough for three billion people, taking into account the fact that in all likelihood all five future vaccines will require two doses.
So far, deals have been agreed to for 5.3 billion doses, of which 2.7 billion or 51 percent have been bought by developed countries, including the US, UK, European Union, Australia, Hong Kong and Macau, Japan, Switzerland and Israel.
The remaining 2.6 billion doses have been bought by or promised to developing countries including India, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico, among others.
Oxfam is calling for a "people's vaccine" free of charge and distributed fairly based on need.
"This will only be possible if pharmaceutical corporations allow vaccines to be produced as widely as possible by freely sharing their knowledge free of patents, instead of protecting their monopolies and selling to the highest bidder," Oxfam said.
