UNICEF is sounding the alarm. Poor countries are refusing millions of Covid-19 vaccines or leaving them unused.
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Poorer countries rejected more than 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines distributed under the global Covax program in December. Unicef official Etleva Kadilli said this to members of the European Parliament on Thursday. The main reason for this, according to the Reuters news agency, was that the supplied vaccines were close to their expiration date.
Another reason, according to Kadilli, is that poor countries do not always have sufficient storage capacity or suitable refrigerators to store the vaccines. In addition, many countries struggle with vaccine refusals and an overloaded health care system.
According to Unicef, partly because of this, 681 million doses, spread over 90 countries, are currently still waiting for a customer, unused. In fact, in more than 30 poor countries – including the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria – more than half of the doses delivered are still unused.
Nearly a billion doses have now been distributed across 144 countries under the Covax program. In addition, some countries have also purchased doses themselves. But that remains a drop in the ocean. In January, 67 percent of the population of rich countries was fully vaccinated. In poor countries, 8 percent had received their first dose. Pressure grows on Pfizer, Moderna and Astrazeneca to do more.
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