No vaccine crumbs from the rich table for SA

President Cyril Ramaphosa has a point about “vaccine nationalism” being deeply unfair – and even racist – as it perpetuates the gulf between rich and poor nations.

Reports say the industrialised nations have already placed orders for more vaccines than they have people in their populations.

At the same time, the poorer countries of the world will have to wait their turn… somewhere near the back of the vaccine queue.

Those same industrialised nations have also stuck rigidly to their position that they will not share the intellectual property (IP) involved in developing the vaccines – something which has been proposed by both India and South Africa.

If the IP rules are relaxed, developing-world countries like India and South Africa will be able to make the vaccines and not have to rely on overseas supply.

The global Covid-19 pandemic caused many people to optimistically hope that the world would somehow press the “reset” button and become a kinder, more humane place, where concern for one’s fellow human beings would be top priority.

Sadly, that doesn’t look like happening any time soon.

The eternal quest for profit is still driving our planet. We can but hope for some of the crumbs from the rich table…

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