covid-19 vaccine inequity allowed omicron to emerge

canada’s covid-19 vaccination rate  is 76 per cent —  10 times higher  than it is across the continent of africa.

while people in the wealthy west have had preferred access to multiple rounds of vaccines, vast numbers of people, especially in africa and on the indian subcontinent,  haven’t received a single dose . this has permitted the virus to thrive and  accelerated the process of mutation , adding months and perhaps years to the pandemic.

wherever covid-19 has the chance to linger,  variants develop and travel . this entirely predictable pattern is destined to repeat itself unless countries with resources  share vaccines  with others that cannot afford them.

wealthy countries have yet to meet their pledges  to provide equitable global access to vaccines via  covax (an international collaboration to procure and distribute covid-19 vaccines) and other initiatives. the resulting lack of broad global vaccine coverage made the rise of another variant like omicron inevitable.

millions of pre-ordered vaccine doses

canada and other developed countries ordered millions of doses , enough to cover their populations many times over, with promises to share their excess vaccines with other countries. that has not happened quickly enough. while logistical, legal and other barriers did impede the wider distribution of vaccines, there appears to be  a lack of will  to overcome them.

third doses and booster shots  will be important to controlling both the ongoing threat of delta and the spread of omicron. canadians should certainly heed public health guidance and get their shots when they are recommended. once vaccine doses are in canadian freezers and fridges they aren’t going anywhere, and declining a dose won’t mean that it is redistributed to other parts of the world that need them.

developed countries pre-purchased millions of doses of covid-19 vaccines while they were still in development. getty

the rise of omicron

watching the rise of omicron is particularly frustrating. it has been apparent since the outset that the spread of covid-19 needed to be slowed globally, precisely to prevent variants from emerging. that message should have been clearer after the spread of the agile  alpha variant . it should have been clearer still from the swift attack of the  delta variant .

variants like delta and omicron will arise when the burden of infection is high and vaccination rates are low, as is the case with many countries in the global south.  identifying variants by their country of origin  perpetuates a long legacy of  representing racialized people as originators or carriers of disease .

there is no way to know where in the world the omicron variant actually emerged, even though it was first detected in south africa. south africa has been down this road before with hiv, and had a  well-developed pandemic surveillance system that allowed it to detect this variant .

investing in global health

as a result, our country is  a consumer of covid-19 vaccines rather than a contributor to the global supply . despite having small manufacturing facilities that had capacity to contribute a few million doses, canada lacked the political will to repurpose these facilities to assist with the global vaccine effort.

regional manufacturing here and abroad could enable quicker worldwide vaccination. vaccine manufacturers are already contracting local manufacturers in  india  and  africa  to make vaccine doses, but these doses are being shipped to the west instead of being available locally. sharing knowledge and technology that can help countries in the global south develop vaccines and vaccinate their own populations will have a greater long-term benefit for the world than trying to stop variants by closing borders.

as the crisis has worn on, we have  invested in domestic manufacturing in canada , but it will take years to staff these plants with trained personnel, let alone create innovative vaccines that are more suitable for distribution to the global south.

this article is republished from the conversation under a creative commons license. read the original article .

share story

share this story

covid-19 vaccine inequity allowed omicron to emerge

email

facebook

x

linkedin

copy story link