Rich Countries Overstocking Vaccines, Poor Ones Lagging Far Behind

There are fears that poorer countries could be left behind as richer nations "hoard" more doses of coronavirus vaccine than they need.

Wealthy countries have amassed a big enough stock of vaccine doses to immunize their people nearly three times over by the end of next year, assuming the vaccines in clinical trials are all approved for use.

The findings come from the People's Vaccine Alliance, which includes Oxfam and Amnesty International, and which analysed deals done between countries and the eight leading vaccine candidates.

It found that all doses of the Moderna vaccine have been bought by rich countries, as have 96% of Pfizer's doses.

Just 14% of the world's population has bought 53% of the most promising vaccines, with Canada singled out as having enough doses to vaccinate every Canadian five times.

Poorer countries, on the other hand, will only be able to vaccinate one in every 10 people next year, the alliance said.

Five of the countries most likely to be left behind - Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ukraine - have reported 1.5 million coronavirus cases in total.

Even a promise from those behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to allocate 64% of doses to people in developing nations may not be enough./msn

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