Three years since the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic, around 200 world leaders in an open letter published on Saturday called for 'vaccine inequity' to be made a thing of the past. As per the leaders, "the world is at a critical juncture" with the pandemic's end in sight.

"Decisions made now will determine how the world prepares for and responds to future global health crises. World leaders must reflect on mistakes made in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic so that they are never repeated," they said.

Watch |&nbsp;US&nbsp;House votes unanimously to declassify Covid origins intel, bill sent to Biden

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The letter signed by 200 leaders marks the three-year anniversary since the dangerous Covid crisis was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Criticising the "glaring inequity" that served as a huge drawback in the pandemic response, they said, "We ask world leaders to pledge 'never again'."&nbsp;

"There are decades of publicly funded research behind Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and tests," said the letter, adding that, "Governments have poured taxpayer money by the billions into research, development and advance orders, reducing the risks for pharmaceutical companies."

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/did-us-scientists-try-to-suppress-covid-19-lab-leak-theory-ex-cdc-chief-claims-so-570228">Did US scientists try to suppress Covid-19 lab-leak theory? Ex-CDC chief claims so</a>

Insisting that these "are the people's vaccines, the people's tests and the people's treatments," it alleges that "instead of rolling out vaccines, tests and treatments based on need, pharmaceutical companies maximised their profits by selling doses first to the richest countries with the deepest pockets".

A study from last year showed that if in 2021, the vaccines had been distributed equitably, lives amounting to "one preventable death every 24 seconds" or that of approximately 1.3 million people could've been saved.&nbsp;

Citing this study, the letter urged leaders and governments to support the ongoing international accord towards a pandemic accord.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/china-a-fertile-breeding-ground-for-a-potentially-dangerous-covid-mutation-experts-546567">China a 'fertile breeding ground' for a potentially dangerous Covid mutation: Experts</a>

As per an AFP report, the open letter was coordinated by the NGO coalition People's Vaccine Alliance.&nbsp;

Signatories consist of both current and former officials like 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner Timor-Leste President Jose Manuel Ramos-Horta, along with several other Nobel laureates, faith leaders, and former United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon. A range of current and former UN agency heads and former leaders of more than 40 countries were also among those who signed the letter.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Three years since the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic, around 200 world leaders in an open letter published on Saturday called for 'vaccine inequity' to be made a thing of the past.

Three years since the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic, around 200 world leaders in an open letter published on Saturday called for 'vaccine inequity' to be made a thing of the past. As per the leaders, "the world is at a critical juncture" with the pandemic's end in sight. "Decisions made now will determine how the world prepares for and responds to future global health crises. World leaders must reflect on mistakes made in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic so that they are never repeated," they said. Watch | US House votes unanimously to declassify Covid origins intel, bill sent to Biden The letter signed by 200 leaders marks the three-year anniversary since the dangerous Covid crisis was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Criticising the "glaring inequity" that served as a huge drawback in the pandemic response, they said, "We ask world leaders to pledge 'never again'." "There are decades of publicly funded research behind Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and tests," said the letter, adding that, "Governments have poured taxpayer money by the billions into research, development and advance orders, reducing the risks for pharmaceutical companies." Also read | Did US scientists try to suppress Covid-19 lab-leak theory? Ex-CDC chief claims so Insisting that these "are the people's vaccines, the people's tests and the people's treatments," it alleges that "instead of rolling out vaccines, tests and treatments based on need, pharmaceutical companies maximised their profits by selling doses first to the richest countries with the deepest pockets". A study from last year showed that if in 2021, the vaccines had been distributed equitably, lives amounting to "one preventable death every 24 seconds" or that of approximately 1.3 million people could've been saved. Citing this study, the letter urged leaders and governments to support the ongoing international accord towards a pandemic accord. Also read | China a 'fertile breeding ground' for a potentially dangerous Covid mutation: Experts As per an AFP report, the open letter was coordinated by the NGO coalition People's Vaccine Alliance. Signatories consist of both current and former officials like 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner Timor-Leste President Jose Manuel Ramos-Horta, along with several other Nobel laureates, faith leaders, and former United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon. A range of current and former UN agency heads and former leaders of more than 40 countries were also among those who signed the letter. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

On COVID-19 pandemic’s 3-year anniversary, leaders say ‘never again’ to vaccine inequity

In 2021, Pfizer's annual profits were more than double what they were in 2020. The company brought in $22 billion in profits in 2020. Vaccine sales accounted for 36.8 billion of the $81.3 billion in annual revenues.

"2021 was a watershed year for Pfizer," said Chief Executive Albert Bourla in a statement. "Our successes in leading the fight against COVID-19 have not only made a positive difference in the world; I believe they have fundamentally changed our company forever."

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/modernas-spikevax-coronavirus-vaccine-gets-full-fda-approval-in-us-449362" hreflang="en">Moderna's 'Spikevax' coronavirus vaccine gets full FDA approval in US</a>

However, the bumper sales prompted accusations of "pandemic profiteering" from campaigners. Pfizer's revenue of $81bn is more than the GDP of most countries, according to Global Justice Now, which accuses the company of "ripping off public health systems."

Worldwide, the vaccines produced by Pfizer Covid, US rival Moderna, and Britain's AstraZeneca have saved millions of lives.

Pharmaceutical companies have, however, been accused of not sharing their vaccine recipes, which would allow drugmakers in poorer countries to produce cheaper versions of their products.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/more-than-3000-personnel-face-getting-discharged-as-us-army-tightens-vaccine-mandate-rules-449993" hreflang="en">More than 3000 personnel face getting discharged as US Army tightens vaccine mandate rules</a>

Global Justice Now pointed out that BioNTech invented Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, which was funded by a €100 million (£84 million) loan from the European Investment Bank and a €375 million German government grant.

According to Tim Bierley, a pharma campaigner for the group, mRNA vaccines should have revolutionised the global Covid response, but Pfizer is withholding this essential medical innovation from the world, ripping public health systems off for an "eye-watering mark-up."

As Pfizer reported a more than doubling of annual profits on strong vaccine sales, the giant pharma company has also forecasted more than $50 billion in sales for COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic by 2022.

Watch |&nbsp;DCGI grants emergency use permission to single-dose Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine

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Pfizer, which along with BioNTech won approval for the first vaccine to combat the deadly virus, sees slightly lower revenue from the vaccine in 2022 compared to the previous year, but huge growth from the company's COVID-19 pill Paxlovid.

The results are the latest proof of how the Coronavirus has transformed Pfizer. It predicted just $15 billion in vaccine sales for COVID-19 a year ago, but ended up selling more than twice that amount after increasing its forecast repeatedly.

(With inputs from agency)

In 2021, Pfizer's annual profits were more than double what they were in 2020. The company brought in $22 billion in profits in 2020. Vaccine sales accounted for 36.

In 2021, Pfizer's annual profits were more than double what they were in 2020. The company brought in $22 billion in profits in 2020. Vaccine sales accounted for 36.8 billion of the $81.3 billion in annual revenues. "2021 was a watershed year for Pfizer," said Chief Executive Albert Bourla in a statement. "Our successes in leading the fight against COVID-19 have not only made a positive difference in the world; I believe they have fundamentally changed our company forever." Also read | Moderna's 'Spikevax' coronavirus vaccine gets full FDA approval in US However, the bumper sales prompted accusations of "pandemic profiteering" from campaigners. Pfizer's revenue of $81bn is more than the GDP of most countries, according to Global Justice Now, which accuses the company of "ripping off public health systems." Worldwide, the vaccines produced by Pfizer Covid, US rival Moderna, and Britain's AstraZeneca have saved millions of lives. Pharmaceutical companies have, however, been accused of not sharing their vaccine recipes, which would allow drugmakers in poorer countries to produce cheaper versions of their products. Also read | More than 3000 personnel face getting discharged as US Army tightens vaccine mandate rules Global Justice Now pointed out that BioNTech invented Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, which was funded by a €100 million (£84 million) loan from the European Investment Bank and a €375 million German government grant. According to Tim Bierley, a pharma campaigner for the group, mRNA vaccines should have revolutionised the global Covid response, but Pfizer is withholding this essential medical innovation from the world, ripping public health systems off for an "eye-watering mark-up." As Pfizer reported a more than doubling of annual profits on strong vaccine sales, the giant pharma company has also forecasted more than $50 billion in sales for COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic by 2022. Watch | DCGI grants emergency use permission to single-dose Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine Pfizer, which along with BioNTech won approval for the first vaccine to combat the deadly virus, sees slightly lower revenue from the vaccine in 2022 compared to the previous year, but huge growth from the company's COVID-19 pill Paxlovid. The results are the latest proof of how the Coronavirus has transformed Pfizer. It predicted just $15 billion in vaccine sales for COVID-19 a year ago, but ended up selling more than twice that amount after increasing its forecast repeatedly. (With inputs from agency)

Vaccine maker Pfizer faces accusations of 'pandemic profiteering' as profits double

While nearly 9.5 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered across the planet, less than 10 percent of low-income countries have received a dose. But, that’s about to change. VOA’s Jessica Stone reports that India will be at the center of the solution.

WION-VOA CO-Production: Only 10% of low-income countries received Covid jabs

In December alone, poor countries refused to accept about 100 million donated COVID-19 vaccine doses, mainly because of their short shelf life, the United Nations said Thursday.

The World Health Organization has also condemned the "moral shame" of high-income countries hoarding vaccine supplies and then sharing their near-expiry doses with jab-starved poorer countries.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/reduced-hospitalisation-risk-for-omicron-patients-us-study-444540">Reduced hospitalisation risk for Omicron patients: US study</a>&nbsp;

Shocking images of Nigerian authorities disposing of over a million expired AstraZeneca doses last month brought the issue to light.

As part of Covax, a global program to ensure that vaccine doses reach poorer nations, UNICEF uses its vaccine logistics expertise to handle delivery flights.

UNICEF's supply division director Etleva Kadilli told the committee of the European Parliament in December that "we had almost more than 100 million doses that have been refused because of countries' capacities".

"The majority of refusals are due to product shelf life."

"The short shelf life is really creating a major bottleneck for countries to plan their vaccination campaigns," Kadilli explained.

"Until we have a better shelf life, this is going to be a pressure point for the countries, specifically when countries want to reach populations in hard-to-reach areas."

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/cannabis-help-in-preventing-covid-viral-study-offers-no-evidence-report-444531">Cannabis help in preventing Covid? Viral study offers no evidence: Report</a>

Kadilli told lawmakers that EU donations account for a third of the doses delivered through Covax so far.

During October-November, 15 million EU-donated doses were rejected, 75 per cent of which were AstraZeneca shots with a shelf life of less than 10 weeks on arrival.

Kadilli noted that several nations are requesting that deliveries be delayed until after March, when they might be in a better position to deal with the pressure on the cold storage chain.

Many countries "come back and request split shipments -- they want to push doses towards the next quarter", she said.

"And I'm talking here also for large, big countries where naturally you'd think that they do have the capacity."

Covax is a collaborative effort between the WHO, Gavi, and CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. It is about to deliver its billionth vaccine dose via UNICEF.

Watch |&nbsp;UNICEF: Poor nations rejected over 100 MN vaccine doses due to near expiry dates &amp; lack of storage

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The WHO announced on December 29 that 92 of its 194 member states missed their target of vaccinating 40 per cent of their populations by the end of 2021.

"This is due to a combination of limited supply going to low-income countries for most of the year and then subsequent vaccines arriving close to expiry and without key parts like the syringes," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

"It's not only a moral shame; it cost lives."

On Thursday, he said 9.4 billion vaccine doses have been administered to people around the world, but more than 85 per cent of Africans have not received a single dose.

"Some of the supply constraints we faced last year are now starting to ease, but we still have a long way to go to reach our target of vaccinating 70 percent of the population of every country by the middle of this year," Tedros told member states.

(With inputs from agencies)

In December alone, poor countries refused to accept about 100 million donated COVID-19 vaccine doses, mainly because of their short shelf life, the United Nations said Thursday.

In December alone, poor countries refused to accept about 100 million donated COVID-19 vaccine doses, mainly because of their short shelf life, the United Nations said Thursday. The World Health Organization has also condemned the "moral shame" of high-income countries hoarding vaccine supplies and then sharing their near-expiry doses with jab-starved poorer countries. Also read | Reduced hospitalisation risk for Omicron patients: US study Shocking images of Nigerian authorities disposing of over a million expired AstraZeneca doses last month brought the issue to light. As part of Covax, a global program to ensure that vaccine doses reach poorer nations, UNICEF uses its vaccine logistics expertise to handle delivery flights. UNICEF's supply division director Etleva Kadilli told the committee of the European Parliament in December that "we had almost more than 100 million doses that have been refused because of countries' capacities". "The majority of refusals are due to product shelf life." "The short shelf life is really creating a major bottleneck for countries to plan their vaccination campaigns," Kadilli explained. "Until we have a better shelf life, this is going to be a pressure point for the countries, specifically when countries want to reach populations in hard-to-reach areas." Also read | Cannabis help in preventing Covid? Viral study offers no evidence: Report Kadilli told lawmakers that EU donations account for a third of the doses delivered through Covax so far. During October-November, 15 million EU-donated doses were rejected, 75 per cent of which were AstraZeneca shots with a shelf life of less than 10 weeks on arrival. Kadilli noted that several nations are requesting that deliveries be delayed until after March, when they might be in a better position to deal with the pressure on the cold storage chain. Many countries "come back and request split shipments -- they want to push doses towards the next quarter", she said. "And I'm talking here also for large, big countries where naturally you'd think that they do have the capacity." Covax is a collaborative effort between the WHO, Gavi, and CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. It is about to deliver its billionth vaccine dose via UNICEF. Watch | UNICEF: Poor nations rejected over 100 MN vaccine doses due to near expiry dates & lack of storage The WHO announced on December 29 that 92 of its 194 member states missed their target of vaccinating 40 per cent of their populations by the end of 2021. "This is due to a combination of limited supply going to low-income countries for most of the year and then subsequent vaccines arriving close to expiry and without key parts like the syringes," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "It's not only a moral shame; it cost lives." On Thursday, he said 9.4 billion vaccine doses have been administered to people around the world, but more than 85 per cent of Africans have not received a single dose. "Some of the supply constraints we faced last year are now starting to ease, but we still have a long way to go to reach our target of vaccinating 70 percent of the population of every country by the middle of this year," Tedros told member states. (With inputs from agencies)

Rich nations' near-expired 'donation' jabs saw 100 million vaccine shots rejected in December: UN

World Health Organization says that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is killing people around the world, and should not be disregarded as mild.

According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO chief, hospitals are overburdened by the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant, which is rapidly outcompeting the Delta variant in many countries.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/research-model-predicts-omicron-is-not-done-evolving-it-can-further-evolve-to-increase-transmission-442604" hreflang="en">Research model predicts Omicron is not done evolving, it can further evolve to increase transmission</a>

"While Omicron does appear to be less severe compared to Delta, especially in those vaccinated, it does not mean it should be categorised as mild," Tedros told a press conference.

"Just like previous variants, Omicron is hospitalising people and it is killing people," he explained.&nbsp;"In fact, the tsunami of cases is so huge and quick, that it is overwhelming health systems around the world."

Nearly 9.5 million new cases of COVID-19 were reported to the WHO last week, which is a record 71 per cent increase from the previous week.

However, even this was an underestimate, Tedros said since it did not include the backlog of testing around the Christmas and New Year holidays, positive tests that were not registered, and overburdened surveillance systems that missed cases.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/vaccine-sceptic-bolsonaro-criticises-health-regulator-dismisses-vaccinating-children-442782" hreflang="en">'Vaccine sceptic' Bolsonaro criticises health regulator, dismisses vaccinating children</a>

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead for COVID-19, said it was "very unlikely" that <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/omicron">Omicron</a> would be the last variant of concern before the pandemic ended.

In the face of the more transmissible Omicron variant, Van Kerkhove encouraged the general public to step up the measures they were already taking for their own protection.

"Do everything that we have been advising better, more comprehensively, more purposefully," she said.&nbsp;"We need people to hang in there and really fight."

She said she was amazed at how sloppily some people wore facemasks.

"It needs to cover your nose and mouth... wearing a mask below your chin is useless," she said.

Using his first speech of 2022, Tedros condemned the way wealthy nations hoarded vaccine doses last year. He said it had created the perfect breeding ground for the emergence of virus variants. To stop the "death and destruction" of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus">COVID-19</a>, he urged the world in 2022 to share out vaccine doses more fairly.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/child-in-los-angeles-detected-with-flurona-what-are-the-symptoms-442563" hreflang="en">Child in Los Angeles detected with 'flurona'; what are the symptoms?</a>

Tedros had hoped to have 10 per cent of every country's population vaccinated by September 2021 and 40 per cent by December 2021.

As per WHO estimates 92 of its 194 members missed the target set for the end of 2021, and 36 did not even vaccinate the first 10 per cent due to lack of access to vaccines.

Now, he wants 70 per cent of people in each country to be jabbed by mid-2022. However, 109 countries will miss the target due to the current pace of vaccine deployment.

"Vaccine inequity is a killer of people and jobs and it undermines a global economic recovery," said Tedros.

"Booster after booster in a small number of countries will not end a pandemic while billions remain completely unprotected."

Watch |&nbsp;WHO: Dismissing the Omicron variant as a mild infection will be a monumental mistake

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Bruce Aylward, the WHO's lead on accessing coronavirus tools, said that there was "no need to finish 2022 in a pandemic".

Michael Ryan, WHO's director of emergencies, however, said that without vaccine equity, "we will be sitting here at the end of 2022 having somewhat the same conversation, which, in itself, would be a great tragedy".

(With inputs from agencies)

World Health Organization says that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is killing people around the world, and should not be disregarded as mild. According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO chief, hospitals are overburdened by the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant, which is rapidly outcompeting the Delta variant in many countries.

World Health Organization says that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is killing people around the world, and should not be disregarded as mild. According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO chief, hospitals are overburdened by the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant, which is rapidly outcompeting the Delta variant in many countries. Also read | Research model predicts Omicron is not done evolving, it can further evolve to increase transmission "While Omicron does appear to be less severe compared to Delta, especially in those vaccinated, it does not mean it should be categorised as mild," Tedros told a press conference. "Just like previous variants, Omicron is hospitalising people and it is killing people," he explained. "In fact, the tsunami of cases is so huge and quick, that it is overwhelming health systems around the world." Nearly 9.5 million new cases of COVID-19 were reported to the WHO last week, which is a record 71 per cent increase from the previous week. However, even this was an underestimate, Tedros said since it did not include the backlog of testing around the Christmas and New Year holidays, positive tests that were not registered, and overburdened surveillance systems that missed cases. Also read | 'Vaccine sceptic' Bolsonaro criticises health regulator, dismisses vaccinating children Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead for COVID-19, said it was "very unlikely" that Omicron would be the last variant of concern before the pandemic ended. In the face of the more transmissible Omicron variant, Van Kerkhove encouraged the general public to step up the measures they were already taking for their own protection. "Do everything that we have been advising better, more comprehensively, more purposefully," she said. "We need people to hang in there and really fight." She said she was amazed at how sloppily some people wore facemasks. "It needs to cover your nose and mouth... wearing a mask below your chin is useless," she said. Using his first speech of 2022, Tedros condemned the way wealthy nations hoarded vaccine doses last year. He said it had created the perfect breeding ground for the emergence of virus variants. To stop the "death and destruction" of COVID-19, he urged the world in 2022 to share out vaccine doses more fairly. Also read | Child in Los Angeles detected with 'flurona'; what are the symptoms? Tedros had hoped to have 10 per cent of every country's population vaccinated by September 2021 and 40 per cent by December 2021. As per WHO estimates 92 of its 194 members missed the target set for the end of 2021, and 36 did not even vaccinate the first 10 per cent due to lack of access to vaccines. Now, he wants 70 per cent of people in each country to be jabbed by mid-2022. However, 109 countries will miss the target due to the current pace of vaccine deployment. "Vaccine inequity is a killer of people and jobs and it undermines a global economic recovery," said Tedros. "Booster after booster in a small number of countries will not end a pandemic while billions remain completely unprotected." Watch | WHO: Dismissing the Omicron variant as a mild infection will be a monumental mistake Bruce Aylward, the WHO's lead on accessing coronavirus tools, said that there was "no need to finish 2022 in a pandemic". Michael Ryan, WHO's director of emergencies, however, said that without vaccine equity, "we will be sitting here at the end of 2022 having somewhat the same conversation, which, in itself, would be a great tragedy". (With inputs from agencies)

WHO cautions against underestimating Omicron as 'mild', decries vaccine inequity

Four people turned up at a health clinic tucked in a sprawl of commercial maize farms on a recent morning, looking for COVID-19 vaccines. The staff had vials of the Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine stashed in the fridge, but the staff members apologetically declined to vaccinate the four and suggested they try another day.

A vial of the Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine holds five doses, and the staff was under orders not to waste a single one.

Ida Musonda, the nurse who supervises the vaccination effort, suspected that her team might have found more takers if they packed the vials in Styrofoam coolers and headed out to markets and churches. “But we have no fuel for the vehicle to take the vaccines there,” she said.

They vaccinated 100 people on their last trip to a farm; the records from that trip sat in a paper heap in the clinic because the data manager had no internet connection to access an electronic records system.

For months, the biggest challenge to vaccinating Africans against COVID, and protecting both the continent and the world from the emergence of dangerous variants, has been supply: A continent of about 1.4 billion people has received just 404 million doses of vaccine, and only 7.8% of the population is fully vaccinated.

But as supply has begun to sputter into something like a more reliable flow, other daunting obstacles are coming into focus. All of them are on view at and around Ngwerere.

Weak health care systems with limited infrastructure and technology, and no experience vaccinating adults, are trying to get shots into the arms of people who have far more pressing priorities. At the same time, the global flow of information, and deliberate misinformation, on social media is generating the same scepticism that has stymied vaccination efforts in the United States and other countries.

Some Zambians are hesitant, but others have an attitude that could better be described as vaccine indifference. This is a poor country where the economy has contracted sharply during the pandemic, and many unvaccinated people are more focused on putting food on the table.

“I’d like to get it, but I work Monday to Saturday, and I don’t know if they vaccinate on Sunday,” said Bernadette Kawango, who supports a large extended family with her wages from an auto parts store in a low-income neighbourhood on the edge of Lusaka, the capital. She has heard many rumours: that people who receive the vaccine will die in two years, that the vaccine is part of a plot by Europeans to kill Africans and take their land, that Bill Gates is on a campaign to reduce the world population.

Such stories make her roll her eyes. But COVID is not at the top of her list of health care worries. “It’s cholera season, and people have malaria, and there is HIV and TB,” she said. She does not know anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID.

All these challenges create two major problems. First, the pace of vaccination is far too slow to prevent unnecessary deaths in a fourth wave, which is already beginning in southern Africa, or to prevent the emergence of new variants such as omicron, which was first identified in South Africa late last month. The vaccines in stock — many of them donations close to their expiration dates when they arrive — may not be used before they must be destroyed.

Second, the push to vaccinate against COVID is drawing resources from health systems that can hardly spare them, which could lead to disastrous consequences for the fight against other devastating health problems.

At the Ngwerere health clinic, the usual bustle and screeching at the mother-and-child health area, where babies are monitored for signs of malnutrition and given childhood immunizations, was absent because everyone on that staff had been repurposed as COVID vaccinators.

“Every time we have a wave here it really threatens the investments that have been made in HIV, maternal and child health, and TB and malaria, and it’s important that we protect those,” said Dr Simon Agolory, who runs the large Zambia program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr Andrew Silumesii, director of public health for Zambia’s health ministry, said there was clear evidence that infant growth monitoring and childhood immunization had declined over the course of the pandemic. He worries that malaria, TB and HIV infections will also increase.

So far, 7% of Zambians have been vaccinated against COVID, according to Silumesii. President Hakainde Hichilema has set a target of vaccinating another 2 million by Christmas, and 70% of the population by the third quarter of 2022, a goal that looks exceedingly ambitious.

Zambia’s vaccines come mostly from Covax, the global vaccine-sharing initiative, with additional donations from China and the African Union. The fact that Zambia is dependent largely on donations means that it must adapt its program to whatever shipments arrive — a bit like making a meal with whatever arrives in a farm subscription box. The country is managing distribution of five different vaccines, each with different dosing regimens, storage requirements and vial volumes.

That has created a huge additional administrative burden for skeleton staffs such as Musonda’s team. Her staff has no budget for cellphone calls to remind people about second shots, and the effect can be seen in the charts stapled on the vaccination room wall: Of the 840 people who received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in April, only 179 came back for a follow-up shot in July.

When Zambia experienced a severe third COVID wave earlier this year, media coverage of people dying in the parking lots of hospitals that ran out of oxygen rattled a population that had been thinking of the virus as something that affected only white or rich people. There were predawn lineups outside vaccination sites that couldn’t keep shots in stock.

But when the wave abated, so did the demand.

Many people here recall the time when Zambians were dying of AIDS in huge numbers, and Western pharmaceutical companies refused to produce affordable lifesaving medications. There is scepticism now that those same companies have come offering free solutions.

Vaccine misinformation spreads on TikTok and WhatsApp, and in evangelical churches where pastors warn that the shot “contains the mark of the beast.”

“No matter how educated people are, if their pastor says don’t trust the vaccine, they don’t trust,” said Dr Morton Zuze, the clinical care coordinator at Chongwe District Hospital, where seven staff members sat idle in an empty vaccination tent.

As in the United States, there are false rumours in Zambia that the vaccine causes female infertility or erectile dysfunction. Zambians have heard AstraZeneca is not being used in many countries because of reports of blood clots in a very small number of people who received that shot. “It’s a global village, and everyone can switch on CNN,” Zuze said.

Zambia normally vaccinates only small children, and it has no primary care practices. An adult goes to a clinic only when pregnant or receiving HIV treatment, or in an emergency.

Dr Lawrence Mwananyanda, an assistant professor with the Boston University School of Public Health and a special adviser to Hichilema, said the government must balance between trying to create vaccine demand and not creating too much, when it can’t be sure if it will have the supply to deliver.

“To just walk up — and these health facilities are sometimes very far away, 2, 5, 7 kilometres away, and people don’t have cars, you have to be very motivated — sometimes people have gone to a health facility, and then there is no vaccine,” he said. “All they are told is, ‘You can only vaccinate if there’s five or six people, so you can’t be vaccinated today’. How likely are you to come back?”

Charity Machika was vaccinated recently at a rural health centre in Chongwe district. She went to the clinic for a prenatal checkup and then was encouraged to head to the next building, where the HIV treatment centre was repurposed for vaccinations. “I was scared because people say a lot of stories, that I will faint, that I will not be able to walk, that I will die,” she said. “I took the risk to come and protect myself and my baby.”

She is the only vaccinated person in her family. Her husband tried twice but the sites he went to never had vaccines in stock, and it was difficult for him to find the time to make the 4-kilometre walk to try again, she said.

Felix Mwanza, a veteran HIV activist in Lusaka, said the government had yet to tap into the vast network of HIV and TB treatment activists in the country. “We seem not to learn from our past,” he said, recalling how testing and treatment for HIV only reached critical mass when care was delivered in bars, at schools and on doorsteps.

“If they don’t use the structures we already have, donors will keep sending the vaccines and they’ll pile up here and expire and then they won’t send us anymore,” he said.

Mwananyanda said the key strategy for the planned rapid scale-up in vaccination was to do exactly that, taking vaccines to people in malls and at bus stops.

Amid the scramble, no one is thinking about what happens next. “We’re really just addressing the vaccination problems for now — but we don’t have a system for the long run,” said Agolory. “And what are we going to do when boosters are needed or if there’s some new variants that escape the vaccine altogether, and we need to start from zero and give people more vaccines?”

Zambia will need help procuring more, and it will need funding to help bring on temporary health care workers to administer vaccines so that existing programs, like the Ngwerere mother-and-child clinic, are not abandoned, Agolory said.

Even with a huge boost in vaccination rates, the country won’t have enough coverage to blunt the coming wave, or, most likely, the one after it.

“I am hoping that we keep receiving vaccines so that we don’t get into a situation where people need vaccines and they can’t get them,” said Silumesii. “The flip side, which is something that I would really hate to see happen, is where we have brought in vaccines, and we don’t have enough demand and vaccines go to waste. These are vaccines that cost a lot. Definitely that pinch would sting so badly.”

Four people turned up at a health clinic tucked in a sprawl of commercial maize farms on a recent morning, looking for COVID-19 vaccines. The staff had vials of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine stashed in the fridge, but the staff members apologetically declined to vaccinate the four and suggested they try another day.

Four people turned up at a health clinic tucked in a sprawl of commercial maize farms on a recent morning, looking for COVID-19 vaccines. The staff had vials of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine stashed in the fridge, but the staff members apologetically declined to vaccinate the four and suggested they try another day. A vial of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine holds five doses, and the staff was under orders not to waste a single one. Ida Musonda, the nurse who supervises the vaccination effort, suspected that her team might have found more takers if they packed the vials in Styrofoam coolers and headed out to markets and churches. “But we have no fuel for the vehicle to take the vaccines there,” she said. They vaccinated 100 people on their last trip to a farm; the records from that trip sat in a paper heap in the clinic because the data manager had no internet connection to access an electronic records system. For months, the biggest challenge to vaccinating Africans against COVID, and protecting both the continent and the world from the emergence of dangerous variants, has been supply: A continent of about 1.4 billion people has received just 404 million doses of vaccine, and only 7.8% of the population is fully vaccinated. But as supply has begun to sputter into something like a more reliable flow, other daunting obstacles are coming into focus. All of them are on view at and around Ngwerere. Weak health care systems with limited infrastructure and technology, and no experience vaccinating adults, are trying to get shots into the arms of people who have far more pressing priorities. At the same time, the global flow of information, and deliberate misinformation, on social media is generating the same scepticism that has stymied vaccination efforts in the United States and other countries. Some Zambians are hesitant, but others have an attitude that could better be described as vaccine indifference. This is a poor country where the economy has contracted sharply during the pandemic, and many unvaccinated people are more focused on putting food on the table. “I’d like to get it, but I work Monday to Saturday, and I don’t know if they vaccinate on Sunday,” said Bernadette Kawango, who supports a large extended family with her wages from an auto parts store in a low-income neighbourhood on the edge of Lusaka, the capital. She has heard many rumours: that people who receive the vaccine will die in two years, that the vaccine is part of a plot by Europeans to kill Africans and take their land, that Bill Gates is on a campaign to reduce the world population. Such stories make her roll her eyes. But COVID is not at the top of her list of health care worries. “It’s cholera season, and people have malaria, and there is HIV and TB,” she said. She does not know anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID. All these challenges create two major problems. First, the pace of vaccination is far too slow to prevent unnecessary deaths in a fourth wave, which is already beginning in southern Africa, or to prevent the emergence of new variants such as omicron, which was first identified in South Africa late last month. The vaccines in stock — many of them donations close to their expiration dates when they arrive — may not be used before they must be destroyed. Second, the push to vaccinate against COVID is drawing resources from health systems that can hardly spare them, which could lead to disastrous consequences for the fight against other devastating health problems. At the Ngwerere health clinic, the usual bustle and screeching at the mother-and-child health area, where babies are monitored for signs of malnutrition and given childhood immunizations, was absent because everyone on that staff had been repurposed as COVID vaccinators. “Every time we have a wave here it really threatens the investments that have been made in HIV, maternal and child health, and TB and malaria, and it’s important that we protect those,” said Dr Simon Agolory, who runs the large Zambia program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr Andrew Silumesii, director of public health for Zambia’s health ministry, said there was clear evidence that infant growth monitoring and childhood immunization had declined over the course of the pandemic. He worries that malaria, TB and HIV infections will also increase. So far, 7% of Zambians have been vaccinated against COVID, according to Silumesii. President Hakainde Hichilema has set a target of vaccinating another 2 million by Christmas, and 70% of the population by the third quarter of 2022, a goal that looks exceedingly ambitious. Zambia’s vaccines come mostly from Covax, the global vaccine-sharing initiative, with additional donations from China and the African Union. The fact that Zambia is dependent largely on donations means that it must adapt its program to whatever shipments arrive — a bit like making a meal with whatever arrives in a farm subscription box. The country is managing distribution of five different vaccines, each with different dosing regimens, storage requirements and vial volumes. That has created a huge additional administrative burden for skeleton staffs such as Musonda’s team. Her staff has no budget for cellphone calls to remind people about second shots, and the effect can be seen in the charts stapled on the vaccination room wall: Of the 840 people who received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in April, only 179 came back for a follow-up shot in July. When Zambia experienced a severe third COVID wave earlier this year, media coverage of people dying in the parking lots of hospitals that ran out of oxygen rattled a population that had been thinking of the virus as something that affected only white or rich people. There were predawn lineups outside vaccination sites that couldn’t keep shots in stock. But when the wave abated, so did the demand. Many people here recall the time when Zambians were dying of AIDS in huge numbers, and Western pharmaceutical companies refused to produce affordable lifesaving medications. There is scepticism now that those same companies have come offering free solutions. Vaccine misinformation spreads on TikTok and WhatsApp, and in evangelical churches where pastors warn that the shot “contains the mark of the beast.” “No matter how educated people are, if their pastor says don’t trust the vaccine, they don’t trust,” said Dr Morton Zuze, the clinical care coordinator at Chongwe District Hospital, where seven staff members sat idle in an empty vaccination tent. As in the United States, there are false rumours in Zambia that the vaccine causes female infertility or erectile dysfunction. Zambians have heard AstraZeneca is not being used in many countries because of reports of blood clots in a very small number of people who received that shot. “It’s a global village, and everyone can switch on CNN,” Zuze said. Zambia normally vaccinates only small children, and it has no primary care practices. An adult goes to a clinic only when pregnant or receiving HIV treatment, or in an emergency. Dr Lawrence Mwananyanda, an assistant professor with the Boston University School of Public Health and a special adviser to Hichilema, said the government must balance between trying to create vaccine demand and not creating too much, when it can’t be sure if it will have the supply to deliver. “To just walk up — and these health facilities are sometimes very far away, 2, 5, 7 kilometres away, and people don’t have cars, you have to be very motivated — sometimes people have gone to a health facility, and then there is no vaccine,” he said. “All they are told is, ‘You can only vaccinate if there’s five or six people, so you can’t be vaccinated today’. How likely are you to come back?” Charity Machika was vaccinated recently at a rural health centre in Chongwe district. She went to the clinic for a prenatal checkup and then was encouraged to head to the next building, where the HIV treatment centre was repurposed for vaccinations. “I was scared because people say a lot of stories, that I will faint, that I will not be able to walk, that I will die,” she said. “I took the risk to come and protect myself and my baby.” She is the only vaccinated person in her family. Her husband tried twice but the sites he went to never had vaccines in stock, and it was difficult for him to find the time to make the 4-kilometre walk to try again, she said. Felix Mwanza, a veteran HIV activist in Lusaka, said the government had yet to tap into the vast network of HIV and TB treatment activists in the country. “We seem not to learn from our past,” he said, recalling how testing and treatment for HIV only reached critical mass when care was delivered in bars, at schools and on doorsteps. “If they don’t use the structures we already have, donors will keep sending the vaccines and they’ll pile up here and expire and then they won’t send us anymore,” he said. Mwananyanda said the key strategy for the planned rapid scale-up in vaccination was to do exactly that, taking vaccines to people in malls and at bus stops. Amid the scramble, no one is thinking about what happens next. “We’re really just addressing the vaccination problems for now — but we don’t have a system for the long run,” said Agolory. “And what are we going to do when boosters are needed or if there’s some new variants that escape the vaccine altogether, and we need to start from zero and give people more vaccines?” Zambia will need help procuring more, and it will need funding to help bring on temporary health care workers to administer vaccines so that existing programs, like the Ngwerere mother-and-child clinic, are not abandoned, Agolory said. Even with a huge boost in vaccination rates, the country won’t have enough coverage to blunt the coming wave, or, most likely, the one after it. “I am hoping that we keep receiving vaccines so that we don’t get into a situation where people need vaccines and they can’t get them,” said Silumesii. “The flip side, which is something that I would really hate to see happen, is where we have brought in vaccines, and we don’t have enough demand and vaccines go to waste. These are vaccines that cost a lot. Definitely that pinch would sting so badly.”

As vaccines trickle into Africa, Zambia’s challenges highlight other obstacles

Six times more booster shots of coronavirus vaccine are being administered around the world daily than primary doses in low-income countries, the director-general of the World Health Organization said Friday, calling the disparity “a scandal that must stop now.”

The official, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and others at WHO have regularly criticized wealthy nations for hoarding vaccines while lower-income countries do not have enough doses to vaccinate their elderly, front-line health care workers and other high-risk groups. In August, Tedros called for a global moratorium on boosters that he later extended until the end of the year.

However, nations including Germany, Israel, Canada and the United States have gone ahead with booster programs. The WHO said in an email that 92 countries had confirmed programs to provide added doses and that none of them were low-income.

About 28.5 million COVID vaccine doses are given daily around the world. According to the WHO, about a quarter of those are booster or additional doses. (Boosters are meant to bolster protection for those who were earlier fully vaccinated; additional doses are for immunocompromised people whose initial vaccinations failed to sufficiently protect them against the virus.)

WHO officials contrasted the at least 6.9 million added daily doses globally with 1.1 million primary doses being given in low-income countries.

Only 4.5% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford, a figure that is dwarfed by rates in wealthier countries.

The United States recently authorized booster shots for certain recipients of Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s vaccines, and everyone who took Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson’s vaccine. This week, Colorado and California announced that they would allow booster shots for all vaccinated adults.

Experts in the United States have been divided over whether boosters are necessary for most healthy Americans, and many say that the original course of vaccination continues to offer strong protection against serious illness and hospitalization. Other experts argue that new data indicate that the boosters counteract waning protection.

Tedros also warned that access to vaccines was not enough to stop the virus, pointing to a surge of infections and deaths in Europe that has led the Netherlands to plan a partial lockdown, the first recent lockdown in the region affecting both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

“COVID-19 is surging in countries with lower vaccination rates in Eastern Europe, but also in countries with some of the world’s highest vaccination rates in Western Europe,” Tedros said. “It’s another reminder, as we have said again and again, that vaccines do not replace the need for other precautions.”

Every country should tailor its response to its situation, he said, but should also use measures like physical distancing and masking to help curb transmission and reduce pressure on health systems.

Six times more booster shots of coronavirus vaccine are being administered around the world daily than primary doses in low-income countries, the director-general of the World Health Organization said Friday, calling the disparity “a scandal that must stop now.

Six times more booster shots of coronavirus vaccine are being administered around the world daily than primary doses in low-income countries, the director-general of the World Health Organization said Friday, calling the disparity “a scandal that must stop now.” The official, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and others at WHO have regularly criticized wealthy nations for hoarding vaccines while lower-income countries do not have enough doses to vaccinate their elderly, front-line health care workers and other high-risk groups. In August, Tedros called for a global moratorium on boosters that he later extended until the end of the year. However, nations including Germany, Israel, Canada and the United States have gone ahead with booster programs. The WHO said in an email that 92 countries had confirmed programs to provide added doses and that none of them were low-income. About 28.5 million COVID vaccine doses are given daily around the world. According to the WHO, about a quarter of those are booster or additional doses. (Boosters are meant to bolster protection for those who were earlier fully vaccinated; additional doses are for immunocompromised people whose initial vaccinations failed to sufficiently protect them against the virus.) WHO officials contrasted the at least 6.9 million added daily doses globally with 1.1 million primary doses being given in low-income countries. Only 4.5% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford, a figure that is dwarfed by rates in wealthier countries. The United States recently authorized booster shots for certain recipients of Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s vaccines, and everyone who took Johnson &amp; Johnson’s vaccine. This week, Colorado and California announced that they would allow booster shots for all vaccinated adults. Experts in the United States have been divided over whether boosters are necessary for most healthy Americans, and many say that the original course of vaccination continues to offer strong protection against serious illness and hospitalization. Other experts argue that new data indicate that the boosters counteract waning protection. Tedros also warned that access to vaccines was not enough to stop the virus, pointing to a surge of infections and deaths in Europe that has led the Netherlands to plan a partial lockdown, the first recent lockdown in the region affecting both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. “COVID-19 is surging in countries with lower vaccination rates in Eastern Europe, but also in countries with some of the world’s highest vaccination rates in Western Europe,” Tedros said. “It’s another reminder, as we have said again and again, that vaccines do not replace the need for other precautions.” Every country should tailor its response to its situation, he said, but should also use measures like physical distancing and masking to help curb transmission and reduce pressure on health systems.

‘A scandal’: WHO says world’s rate of booster shots outstrips poorer countries’ vaccinations

More than 5 billion vaccinations have been administered across the world. However, vaccine inequity continues to remain a cause of concern. While rich countries are using booster shots, poor countries are lagging behind in vaccination.

Vaccine inequity continues to remain a cause of concern

vaccine-inequity

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