Experts had warned:not sharing anti-covid vaccines with the rest of the developing world will encourage the emergence of new variants. The expansion of B.1.1.529, also called Omicron, is an example.
As Covid-19 contaminations increase around the world, the Ministers of Health of France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom are meeting in London on Monday to discuss the evolution of the Omicron variant which would present "a very high risk" at the global level according to the WHO. In the meantime, more and more borders are closing, while the "Western world" insists on the need to vaccinate its population a third time. But is this the right solution?
Precisely where Omicron was "born" is still unknown. On the other hand, we know that it was first identified in South Africa. And many blamed vaccine nationalism for its emergence. While the richest countries distribute second and third doses of vaccine, less than 6% of people in low-income countries have received only one dose .
Problem:The more a virus spreads, the more likely it is that new mutations will emerge. Scientists, medical experts and other activists had nevertheless called for fairness in the distribution of the first vaccines, and this, as soon as they were approved by the health authorities.
“For more than a year, South Africa, Botswana and other countries have been calling on world leaders to renounce intellectual property on coronavirus vaccines, tests and treatments , so they can defend themselves “, points out to the Guardian Tim Bierley, a pharmaceutical activist at Global Justice Now. “This is a vital step that will be discussed again at the World Trade Organization conference next week. But so far the UK and EU have recklessly blocked it from progress “.
Adam Finn, of the University of Bristol and member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI), also warns that the approach of vaccinating and revaccinating increasingly low-risk people in rich countries would "bounce back" on those same countries, noting that they would end up with more deaths and more economic damage as a direct result.
“There is no need for altruism here, just uncompromising self-interest “, continues the researcher. "But somehow politicians still don't understand this and those of us advising them are being told very clearly that anything outside our borders is in outside of our remit “.
For now, in the West, leaders tend to blame their own unvaccinated. And for good reason, it has indeed been proven that these people are more likely to spread the Covid virus. On the other hand, let's keep in mind that this is a global pandemic taking place in an interdependent world . Thus, until the whole world is protected, there is a serious risk that new variants will emerge that may escape testing or render vaccines and other treatments less effective.
