A doctor in a Tokyo hospital fills a form for a nurse to receive one of Japan’s first jabs for 40,000 healthcare workers on Feb 17, as the country kicked off its inoculation drive in preparation for the Tokyo Games, scheduled to start on July 23. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

Vaccine equity has become the top moral test today for our species, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Feb 17.

“Defeating COVID-19 — now that we have begun to have the scientific capacity to do so — is more important than ever,” he told an open debate of the UN Security Council on “ensuring the equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines in contexts affected by conflict and insecurity”.

The rollout of vaccines is generating hope, he said. “At this critical moment, vaccine equity is the biggest moral test before the global community. We must ensure that everybody, everywhere, can be vaccinated as soon as possible.”

Yet progress on vaccination has been wildly uneven and unfair. Just 10 countries have administered 75 percent of all COVID-19 vaccines.

US President Joe Biden told a CNN town hall on Feb 16 that the United States — the worst-hit nation in the world — would have “600 million doses, enough to vaccinate every American” by the end of July. Its vaccination is affected by the spreading freeze in recent days. 

The United Kingdom is among the countries with the fastest rollout per capita, vaccinating 15.6 million people with a first dose. The UK could give two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to all adults by August or September, according to Clive Dix, leader of a group that managed Britain’s vaccine procurement strategy.

However, more than 130 countries have not received a single dose. Those affected by conflict and insecurity are at particular risk of being left behind. “When pandemic strikes, we are only safe if everyone is safe,” said Guterres.

If the virus is allowed to spread like wildfire in the Global South, or parts of it, it will mutate again and again. New variants could become more transmissible, more deadly and, potentially, threaten the effectiveness of current vaccines and diagnostics. This can prolong the pandemic significantly, enabling the virus to come back to plague the Global North. And it will also delay the world economic recovery, he warned.

“Together, we can ensure sufficient supply, fair distribution and vaccine confidence. We can defeat this disease. We can get our economies running again. I am convinced it is possible. Let’s make it happen, together,” the UN chief said.

Guterres proposed that the Group of 20 set up an emergency task force to prepare a “Global Vaccination Plan” against COVID-19.

“We have come together to create the COVAX facility, the one global tool to procure and deliver vaccines for low- and middle-income countries. COVAX requires to be fully funded. But we must do even more. Our efforts need to be comprehensive and well-coordinated everywhere,” said Guterres.

The world urgently needs a Global Vaccination Plan to bring together all those with the required power and scientific expertise as well as production and financial capacities.

“I am ready to galvanize the full United Nations system in support of this effort. The G7 (Group of Seven) meeting later this week can create the momentum to mobilize the necessary financial resources,” he said.

At the virtual briefing, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi made four proposals for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and making new contributions to safeguarding peace.

Wang proposed adhering to putting people first and enhancing global cooperation in the fight against COVID-19; fully implementing the UNSC resolutions and creating a favorable environment for fighting the pandemic; solving the vaccine deficit and increasing assistance to developing countries; and strengthening coordination and giving full play to the role of the United Nations system.

Macky Sall, president of the Republic of Senegal, addresses a ceremony at an airport in Dakar, the nation’s capital, on Feb 17, for the arrival of the first batch of Sinopharm vaccine imports. (XING JIANQIAO / XINHUA)

China has taken concrete actions to promote the fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, and China has never sought any geopolitical goals in carrying out international cooperation on COVID-19 vaccines, never calculated any economic gains, and never attached any political conditions, he said.

“What we think about most is to let the vaccines become accessible and affordable public goods for the people of all countries.”

China will continue to work together with all parties and enhance cooperation on vaccines and pandemic prevention and control, Wang said.

The global vaccine rollout has been going on unevenly. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard had earlier said his government would complain to the UN about hoarding and inequalities in the global inoculation drive.

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the newly appointed head of the World Trade Organization, said the body can help ensure universal access to the jabs.

“It’s really in the self-interest of every country to see everyone vaccinated because you’re not safe until everyone is safe,” she said.

Several countries have initiated their vaccination drives in recent days. On Feb 17, five months ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, Japan kicked off its inoculation drive at a Tokyo hospital, with a plan to initially give shots of the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech to 40,000 healthcare workers.

“Hopefully vaccinations … can change the situation here,” local nurse Rino Yoshida told national broadcaster NHK after she got one of the first jabs.

Organizers have outlined measures they say will keep the Games safe even without requiring participants to be vaccinated or quarantined on arrival.

Indonesia, one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to begin vaccination with Chinese help, entered the second phase of its massive program for inoculating residents in separate islands on Feb 17.

Priority groups in the second round targeting 38.5 million people include market traders, senior citizens, educators, religious figures, elected representatives, government officials, police and military personnel, security guards, and journalists as well as workers in hospitals, transportation offices and tourism industries.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Tanah Abang textile market in Central Jakarta on Feb 17 to observe the implementation of the second phase of the vaccination for traders.

In South Africa, administering of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine to health workers also began on Feb 17, following the arrival of a first consignment of the shots the night before. The first shot was given at a hospital in Cape Town, the government said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement that 80,000 J&J doses were being prepared for distribution across the country.

Feb 17 also saw Colombia launching its vaccination campaign, with the first dose applied to a nurse working in an intensive care unit.

Colombian President Ivan Duque, Vice-President Marta Lucia Ramirez and Minister of Health and Social Protection Fernando Ruiz were on hand for the application of the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

“Today, a new chapter begins in the defeat of this pandemic. This chapter begins with widespread, safe, effective and free vaccination nationwide,” said Duque.

The first stage of the National Vaccination Plan includes the immunization of healthcare workers and those over 80 years of age.

New infections of COVID-19 and new deaths worldwide have been falling sharply in recent weeks. However, “the fire is not out, but we have reduced its size”, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news briefing in Geneva on Feb 15.

With infections topping 109 million and more than 2.42 million deaths, the pandemic has devastated the global economy, and populations are growing increasingly frustrated with financially painful restrictions that authorities and experts say are necessary to fight the virus.

According to a study released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, modeling data suggest that B.1.1.7 could become the predominant COVID-19 variant in the US in March.

The B.1.1.7 variant, which was first reported in the UK in December, is reported to be more transmissible than certain other SARS-CoV-2 lineages, according to CDC. The first US infection case of the variant was detected in Colorado in late December. As of Feb 16, 1,277 COVID-19 cases with the B.1.1.7 variant had been identified in 42 US states.

The variant is “causing us concern”, German Minister of Health Jens Spahn told the media on Feb 17. 

“We must expect that variant to soon become the dominant one in our country as well.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was also on alert. “New variants of the virus are emerging fast and we must adapt our response even faster,” she said.

On Feb 17, the European Union stepped up its efforts to detect and fight COVID-19 variants by bringing together various stakeholders to develop new and adapted vaccines.

A new project called “HERA Incubator” will gather researchers, biotech companies, manufacturers and public authorities in the EU and globally to detect new coronavirus variants, provide incentives to develop new and adapted vaccines, speed up the approval process for these vaccines, and ensure the scaling up of manufacturing capacities.

The incubator will also serve as a blueprint for the EU’s long-term preparedness for health emergencies, the European Commission said in a statement.