Covid-19: Pandemic ill winds and inequality

Pharmaceutical companies developed lifesaving Covid-19 vaccines, and associated health products, with massive amounts of public money, but refused to share their knowledge and technology with the world, putting profits over human lives.

ACCORDING to the World Health Organisation, the Covid-19 pandemic that ravaged the planet for almost three years infected more than 750 million people, resulting in more than 6.8 million deaths. This unprecedented public health crisis exposed humongous systemic failures in the global health architecture, deficient government responses and government actions that exacerbated social inequities and violated a slew of human rights.

The response of the so called “enlightened” West was decidedly selfish; even before any Covid-19 vaccine was approved by WHO, the Western world had negotiated opaque deals with vaccine makers, and bought up almost all vaccines, even those that were yet to be developed. Many of these same rich governments blocked a proposal by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to waive intellectual property rules for Covid-19 tests, treatments and vaccines.