Rich countries are hoarding vaccine doses while poor countries become breeding grounds for new COVID-19 variants.

The World Health Organization’s COVAX — an abbreviation for COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access — warned that “no one is safe, until everyone is safe,” yet colonial attitudes are an obstacle to reining in the global pandemic.

COVID-19 has shown that global equity and inclusion are necessary to manage global crises. A major lesson from this pandemic is the need to decolonize transnational governance so that the world is better able to handle both future and current global crises and issues.

It was supposed to provide vaccinations globally and equitably as well as serve as a mechanism through which both rich and poor countries would access vaccines. More than 80 per cent of the population in rich countries is fully vaccinated, compared to less than 10 per cent of the population in poor countries.

Credible reports say that poor countries have been affected the most by the global pandemic both in terms of how deadly it has been, as well as economically.

This summer, we’re seeing new pandemic waves in Europe and Asia driven by new SARS-CoV-2 variants first spotted in South Africa.

A health-care worker in blue protective garb listens to the breathing of a woman wearing a mask and a pink shirt.

COVAX is on lofty ideals of equity and social justice. The initiative has been necessary to moderately balance the gap between rich and poor countries that would have fared worse had it not been launched.

But COVAX has been called naïve for relying upon the good will of rich countries for funding and on their willingness to wait patiently in line for their own populations’ doses.

COVAX’s good intentions have had to co-exist with “might is right” politics. Rich countries made their own deals and bought large amounts of vaccine supplies before they were even available.

Read more: https://theconversation.com/enduring-colonialism-has-made-it-harder-to-end-the-covid-19-pandemic-188206