In the Corona crisis, there seems to be only one cure: vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate. But even if Europe has four times as many Vaccine would have been as at present, the pandemic would not have been defeated. For the poorer countries lack the preparations.
Between Paris and Warsaw, the vaccination train is moving slowly. The locomotive sputters, the wagons jolt. Just twelve percent of German citizens have received the first dose. But even if Germany, with a vaccination rate of 60 to 70 percent If the WHO were to achieve herd immunity – a dream so far – the pandemic would not have lost its horror. Because poor countries are currently hopelessly lagging behind.
Corona: Aid organizations criticize vaccination nationalism
There is a lack of vaccine, tests and masks there. The virus can spread indefinitely. With the risk that Mutants develop viruses that are resistant to the vaccine. This increases the risk that even more aggressive pathogens will reach Europe via vacation and business trips or via trade.
Aid organizations warn against focusing only on one's own country. "Nationalistic vaccination strategies will not help contain the pandemic quickly," said Elisabeth Mate, policy officer at Doctors Without Borders, our editorial team. "The crucial question must be: How can we save and protect people worldwide? Precisely because we also have the risk of mutations that can come back to the rich countries."
So far, three mutations are causing concern: B.1.1.7 (British variant), B.1.351 (South African variant) and P.1 (Brazilian version). The British mutant in particular is said to be not only more contagious but also more deadly than the original pathogen. According to the Robert Koch Institute, it now accounts for around 90 percent of all new infections in Germany from.
Few rich countries get bulk of available vaccine
"It will certainly not remain with the three mutations now under discussion, in NY develops z. B. just another dangerous variant. It is therefore surprising how slowly vaccination is being pushed in the poorest countries," warns the SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach On Twitter. Epidemiologists are already sounding the alarm: after the third, a fourth, fifth or sixth wave of corona could roll out.
Exacerbating the risks is a global imbalance between developed and developing countries. More than 70 percent of the world's available Corona vaccine have gone to only ten rich countries, criticized the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Covax, an international alliance co-founded by WHO, wants to distribute vaccines to poorer countries at low prices or for free. But it's not getting off the ground because the Market bought empty is. In many regions, little or no work has been started.
Africa – herd immunity not for 15 years at current vaccination rate
The online publication "Our World in Data" paints a sobering picture. The map of the continent consists of many white spots with no or very low vaccination activity. In South Africa, where the dangerous mutant B.1.351 rages, just 0.5 percent of the population received at least one dose. Currently, an average of slightly more than 7000 doses are distributed per day.
"If vaccination continued at this rate, South Africa would not have herd immunity for 15.5 years," points out Mate. The vacation destination Tunisia only achieves a rate of 0.7 percent. In safari country Kenya, 0.3 percent of the population has received a first vaccination dose so far, in Uganda 0.2 percent. Many African countries are vaccinating the British-Swedish drug Astrazeneca.
Latin America – Variant P.1 threatens to spread
Especially in Brazil, with more than 3,000 people dying from covid on any given day, the crisis is taking on more dramatic proportions. Virologists already warn Brazil is "a threat to global health". Especially since the most highly contagious variant, P.1 spreads, threatening to spread to neighboring countries as well.
Corona Monitor – The figures from Germany, Europe and the world
Latin America's largest country distributes Astrazeneca and the Chinese vaccine Sinovac. So far, 7.8 percent of the population has received the first dose. In Mexico the Russian Sputnik V vaccine as well as Astrazeneca, Pfizer/Biontech and Sinovac. But so far, only 6.2 percent of the population has received the first dose.
Vaccination rate in Southeast Asia in some countries below 1 percent
Here, too, the pace of vaccination leaves much to be desired. On the Philippines 0.7 percent of the population have received the first dose so far. In Cambodia, the figure is 1.4 percent. Aid agencies make case for rich countries to temporarily suspend patents on Corona vaccines.
South Africa and India have introduced a resolution to this effect, which is supported by around 100 countries, before the World Trade Organization (WTO). But so far, countries like the U.S., the U.K., Japan and Switzerland have blocked the move.