Make vaccines available

It has been described as the worst global health scourge in more than a century. Nothing has shaken the world in recent years as the Covid-19 pandemic has. The last was the Spanish Flu, which killed more than 50 million people.

Today, 164 million Covid-19 cases have been reported worldwide with almost 3.4 million deaths. Kenya is reeling under the burden of 166,000 cases and almost 3,000 deaths. 

The coronavirus outbreak has wrecked economies with devastating job losses. Some 125 million people are said to have been pushed into extreme poverty. Gender-based violence is mounting as child marriages and teen pregnancies increase.

The world rallied together in the search for a vaccine. Research and huge investments yielded vaccines whose efficacy has been tested and confirmed, giving hope to the world.

Rally global solidarity

When the vaccinations were rolled out recently, there was optimism that this scourge which has caused so much misery could finally be on its way out. However, the latest developments surrounding the manufacture and distribution of the vaccines are disconcerting.

Kenyans who received their first dose last month were expected to get the second jab in the middle of this month but this cannot be guaranteed. The consequences could be disastrous.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has had to weigh in with a warning to the vaccine-producing countries to distribute the drugs to the poor nations within three months or risk losing their intellectual property rights. The WHO also wants 92 low- and middle-income countries guaranteed access to a billion doses by September under the Covax Gavi scheme.

At a time when millions of lives are at stake due to Covid-19, selfish national and international interests are curtailing equitable vaccine distribution. Nothing could be more callous. There is a need to rally global solidarity to make the vaccines available to all and save lives in both rich and poor nations.