AstraZeneca Rejected Shots Could Save Other Lives

Those nations rejecting Astra Zeneca shots could save lives of millions in poorer nations, if they could this once prioritise others before themselves.....

While the world has been hit by a virus that did not make any distinction between the rich and the poor, the less privileged countries continue to be marginalized when it comes to receiving treatment against the deadly Covid-19 virus.

Each nation has been busy getting its own protected.  Very few are genuinely thinking of the less fortunate. The United Nation’s led Covax scheme was meant to support the lesser privileged nations.  But what is coming through from the wealthier nations is the rejected supply of vaccines.

It has taken a lot of effort for the humanitarian organizations to find a balance between a no vaccine situation to some vaccine doses for these poor and underdeveloped nations.  In a recent move, it has been confirmed that now doses of vaccines that stand rejected from developed nations will be sent off to the poorer nations needing some kind of protection from the evolving virus.

According to WHO Director- General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, high income countries have on an average vaccinated one in four people while in low income countries, it has been only one in more than 500. The world is now rejecting Astra Zeneca shots for the older people due to fear of clotting in 50 years and above.

These shots are going to give some hope to the poorer nations, if the countries decide to send them off to them. Instead, Australia is contemplating giving the shots to its younger generation. Indeed, one can see nothing but a ‘shocking imbalance in the distribution of vaccines’, added Mr. Ghebreyesus’ formal media statement.

Astra Zeneca is costing much less than the other variants. Amongst the millions administered, there have been a hundred cases of blood clots in elderly people.

But no one is paying heed to the reeling damage of time gap of the poorer nations.  The momentum of scare comes and goes- either it’s a new variant or the efficacy of the vaccine that is creating an issue. Everything said and done, as countries have signed a contingency plan management document some weeks back to handle such future pandemics, it is also important they do something about fair distribution of atleast some percentage of the rejected doses to the poorer nations that are completely at a loss as of now.

Everyone cannot be as resilient as the African continent that found its own way of dealing with one pandemic after the other and came out alive. If this selfish survival game continues, we might just lose a complete generation of people living in countries like Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Brazil to name a few.