The countries of South Africa, Colombia and other middle-income states hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic are among those who will have to spend more on vaccinations than others. Bloomberg calls the list.
Moreover, these countries really need vaccines so that they can raise their economies and avoid new lockdowns. For example, South Africa needs at least $ 1.3 billion to vaccinate two-thirds of its population. Colombia will need $ 850 million to immunize the population.
In mid-February, a report by the ONE Campaign, an organization to fight poverty and preventable diseases, was published. It says that wealthy nations have ordered one billion doses of coronavirus vaccine more than is needed to vaccinate everyone in those countries. For example, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Japan have received more than 3 billion doses together – while just over 2 billion are needed to administer two doses of the drug to all citizens.
Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified the harm that “vaccine nationalism” can bring to the world economy. The head of the organization, Tedros Ghebreyesus, believes that it is at least $ 9.2 trillion, with almost half of the losses going to the developed countries.