COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Favors Wealthy Over Impoverished Nations

by Ashley L. Dandoy

April 19, 2021

As I inspect world data about vaccine acquisition, there seems to be a trend: wealthy, more-developed nations have acquired majority of the vaccine supplies while impoverished, less-developed nations have acquired less. At a time like this, poor countries should also be equally prioritized because they are also essential to the world economy!

Let’s compare the statistics for the US and the Philippines.

According to Our World in Data, the total number of vaccination doses administered per 100 people in the US on April 12, 2021 was 56.72 while the total number of vaccination doses administered per 100 people in the Philippines on the same day was 1.10.

The US, a more-developed nation, is able to create that data because they have resources that enable them to acquire more vaccine supply than the Philippines, a less-developed nation. And imagine the countries that are much poorer than the Philippines, as they suffer the consequences more.

Furthermore, high-earning nations have already purchased and acquired most of the COVID-19 vaccines. Statistics in KFF showed that high-earning countries have purchased more than half (54% or 4.6 billion) of the vaccines and middle-earning countries have purchased 30% of the vaccines while low-earning countries have purchased 3% of the vaccines. It not only shows us how much vaccine supply each country gets, but it also shows us which countries are going to struggle the most.

However, it’s understandable that the situation is like this due to lack of monetary resources of less-developed nations and the prioritization of more-developed nations. They are essential to the global economy.

But, low-earning countries are also vital to keep the world running. Low and middle-earning nations provide raw materials for high-earning nations to manufacture into products. The Philippines’ main exports are petroleum, coconut oil, bananas, and many more. Without these raw resources, high-earning countries have no natural resources to manufacture into products.

In order to combat this dilemma, the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO) should take appropriate actions on this matter.

At first, the UN posted The UN Comprehensive Response to COVID-19, where they also outlined “policy briefs” for different “themes” such as food security, jobs, inequality, and many more. They also listed the funding costs.

However, as I looked around on the official website of the UN, I couldn’t find any plans that were about COVID-19 vaccine supplies and its distribution throughout the world.

At this point, the UN should emphasize and prioritize equal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, etc.) to many nations while recognizing the struggles of less-developed nations at the same time. Equal distribution does not guarantee the security of less-developed nations; acknowledging and taking action on the disadvantages of these nations should be the minimum.

The World Health Organization, on a good note, has donated COVID-19 supplies to countries who desperately need it, like the Philippines.

They should also check to see if each nation is properly distributing their vaccines to ensure that their citizens have access to them.

At the end, this still matters because it shows us that there is still a struggle between the rich and poor. The pandemic has made it clear which countries have money to afford Covid-19 vaccines and which countries cannot.