Hi dear readers, I am sure you must have understood what is COVAX and GAVI and what was the innovative idea behind establishing these entities? Has the purpose served? Ask yourself this question and you will get the answer.
A vaccines expert at “Doctors Without Borders’s Access Campaign”, accepts that COVAX is perhaps the best arrangement for an equitable distribution of vaccines but, it should be more transparent. He is apprehensive (like we are in Pakistan) as to why most of the vaccine contracts are being made with AstraZeneca? How is AstraZeneca selected? What if the company doesn’t meet committed requirement? (and this is exactly what happened). What are the conditions to check such anomalies? None of these conditions are known. Nothing is transparent.
(How true his apprehensions were? The situation of AstraZeneca explained it all).
Both COVAX and the Governments should ensure that funded vaccine producers disclose their research and make their data freely available “I’m very worried that they are doing this without strings attached and that the know-how that this company has developed with public funding does not become publicly available for others to use” he further added.
They know exactly that when someone hide something, people usually take it for granted that everything is not good or is suspicious.
The trust deficit or no confidence seems to be prevailing here as well especially the nondisclosure of and confinement of data only to a “a small group of selected people (Esotericism: I will soon blog on this phenomenon) and not the public whose tax money is used to generate such data is annoying but is it a reality?
An adjunct senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations says, “COVAX is a clever way to hold together the business interests of different countries”. It looks attractive even if we see from purely the self-interests of the governments. But countries may hesitate to sign and those who have already signed up COVAX, may go back on their contract commitment once the race for purchasing the vaccine doses begins. Some countries in the European Union indicated that they may donate money but may not order vaccines themselves through COVAX as we are still actively discussing with them. “There are models where we could work together.”
This is the sixth sign of suspicion
The first Director of the “Center of Disease Control & prevention (CDC)”, Africa says, “We need to explore other avenues as well. “We welcome the COVAX facility arrangement, but we cannot just wait for discussions. “We need to take charge of our own destiny”. “We need to come together as a continent of 1.3 billion people for not to be left behind”. African governments are approaching banks to finance deals with pharma companies similar to those signed by the United States. South African President called on leaders to secure vaccine supplies for the continent and ensure that the vaccines are manufactured there. Apparently, they are preparing to detach themselves from the bonding with multinational companies.
This is the seventh sign of suspicion
A lawyer at Georgetown University who specializes in global health said, “COVIX need political commitment and a big international effort at the highest level, may be at the United Nations. Without this, the early doses of vaccines are unlikely to go to those who need them the most”. It will be slow, it will be inadequate, and there will be unnecessary deaths (how true these apprehensions are proving?).
The vaccines have been developed and the race for its distribution, procurement and utilization is accelerated and the height of this is now being seen in the form of “Vaccine Passport”
Max Fisher of New York Times on March 2, 2021, says in an article titled “Vaccine Passports, Corvid’s Next Political Flash Point” that already has provoked cries of tyranny and discrimination in Britain, protests in Denmark, digital dis-information in United States and geopolitical warfare within the European Union. The issue is “vaccine passports” which the Governments will issue just as card or a smartphone badge stating that the bearer has been inoculated against corona virus through vaccination but which vaccine? Moderna, Pfizer, Sputnik or Sino pharm? A world divided between the vaccinated and unvaccinated promises relief for economies, but the ethical and practical risks are high.
The idea of “Vaccine Passport” is apparently simple and practical and will allow hundreds and millions of “vaccinated” people to travel internationally and economies to restart. Domestically, people can start moving around normally without the fear of spreading the virus, wearing mask and remain at 6 feet of mandatory social distance (a radical change in the policy that was anticipated in the wake of economic meltdown while corona is still existing).
Israel is the first country to adopt the practice due to her high rate of vaccination of her small population, Greece and Spain are following the suit to open their tourism, other European countries are also considering the suit worth adopting. President Biden has asked federal agencies to explore option while in most of the remaining developing, under developing and poor countries, the idea is still hypothetical.
China took the lead and introduced the first “virus passports” on March 10th, 2021, to boost international travel as the United States and the European Union consider similar programs. The EU has said it plans to propose an EU-wide digital vaccination passport sometime in March 2021..
The biggest question is which vaccine will China accept that the traveler should have for entering China? Will it be only Chinese vaccines? If yes, then all the countries will have to import and use Chinese vaccine as a pre-requisite to enter China? If a traveler is vaccinated with European and/or American vaccine seek permission to enter China, then they must allow Chinese people vaccinated with Chinese vaccine to enter in European and American countries. In that case, will they register Chinese vaccine in their country? Probably, they are going to have a second thought.
And what about people from countries who do not produce their own vaccine and are importing it from other relevant countries? If somebody wants to travel from Pakistan to USA, will it be necessary for him or her to be vaccinated with American vaccine? And if he/she wanted to go to Europe from USA, will he/she need European Vaccine? Can a Pakistani vaccinated with Chinese vaccine enter Europe and/or USA? These are tricky questions and need satisfactory answers sooner than any later. USA is now allowing people vaccinated with Chinese vaccine to enter the country.
NYT says that “vaccines are either going to rich countries or are being produced there. Dividing the world between the vaccinated and unvaccinated raises daunting political and ethical questions. Granting special rights for the vaccinated, while tightening restrictions on the unvaccinated is not only unethical but will widen the risks of social gaps that has already attained dangerous limits.
Skepticism in vaccination is already widespread and will flareup further if vaccination becomes mandatory by the governments. It will also make already bad situation worse as it has the hidden motive to force people to work largely to or protect global interests than what is right for their own self and their country.
This is the eighth sign of suspicion
Significant proportion of the Pakistani population possesses natural or herd immunity against corona virus and are thus reluctant to be vaccinated even if given free. Also, vaccine providers in the countries including the Government have lost credibility which does not allow people to get vaccinated despite a binding by the law that can punish, fine and jail people who refuse vaccination. Does this mean that Pakistani will not be able to travel abroad even if there is an emergency? The answer is “may or may not” in simple words it means “uncertainty” because using the existing precedent of showing proof of vaccination at the entry points and placing upon the society wide array of restriction, Government would effectively force them to use vaccination. This will increase public distrust at a time when governments need majority of their populations to be voluntarily vaccinated.
This is what made people suspicious that corona is nothing but a political issue.
They know fully well that special privileges for the vaccinated would, by definition, favor demographies that has been inoculated at higher rates especially the well off in western countries.
Nicole A. Errett: a University of Washington public health expert said. “If vaccines become a passport to do different things, we will see the communities left behind that have already been the hardest hit by Covid pandemic.
Can’t agree more than that
That’s all-dear readers. Make your own decision
Corona is a reality, but its handling made it look like a political stunt.
Please do vaccinate because that will make you safe. You can still get infection but that will not harm you because the moment the virus will enter your body, it will be killed (with few exceptions). The only symptom would be that your corona test will be positive because virus is there in your body even if it is dead. As long as it is not washed, the test will not be negative. Still, you need to wear “MASK”. This is my experience. What is yours? Please comment.
Stay blessed and be free of corona. Bye
See you next week with new series on Agriculture
You have excellent expertise in research work. Very informative article.