The threat of a new Covid -19 variant Omicron led Israel on Nov. 28th to enforce a temporary halt on entrance of tourists and to take several other measures. For the fifth time it had become clear that Israel’s strategy of vaccinating her own population while neglecting the rest of the world was wrong and cannot prevent the pandemic.
In early October, I was part of an initiative of 53 Israeli medical personnel and scientists who signed a letter to Prime Minister Bennett and Minister of Health Horowitz, calling on the government to join in temporarily suspending the patent rights of the vaccine producers and in contributing to Covax.
It seems now, writing at the end of November, that the unanswered call of the 53 is more urgent than before. Israel’s strategy of “Vaccine Nationalism”, i.e. continuously vaccinating its own population while neglecting the situation in poor countries, is failing.
Press reports on Nov 26 said that “As alarm over a new, possibly more infectious coronavirus variant spread around the world, France, Britain, Japan and Israel began to ban or order quarantines for air passengers arriving from the southern African region.” The Washington Post reported that “Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to Britain’s Health and Security Agency, warned that the new variant found in southern Africa is the “most worrying we’ve seen.”
The fight against Covid -19 in Israel has focused on vaccinating the country’s residents. It is clear now that it is not enough. The pandemic is global, and tackling it must be global. The failure is not restricted to Israel, as many developed countries have adopted a similar approach by hoarding vaccines and allowing the Pharma companies to reap huge profits while refusing to share the Intellectual Property with third world producers.
Africa’s lack of vaccines
The US administration is currently pressuring Moderna, a big vaccine manufacturer, to enable large-scale production. In mid-November, the American news site Politico reported an agreement that Moderna will market hundreds of millions of vaccines in Africa and Asia at a reduced price. Yet this is too little too late.
The confrontation between the Biden administration and Moderna echoes the harsh criticism leveled by public health officials and human rights organizations against the billions of dollars that drug companies earned from vaccines while preserving patent rights. Rich nations have vaccinated 70% or more of their citizens, and Israel has already carried out the third “booster” shot, while poor countries suffer from very low vaccination rates – for instance, 4% in Africa.
The colossal failure of the fight against the worst epidemic in a hundred years is all the more apparent when we consider the scientific and technological capabilities that enabled the creation of vaccines within months. The US contributed about $10 billion to the development of the Moderna vaccine. Pfizer’s, developed by the German company BioNTech, received hundreds of millions of euros in government support.
Despite these massive governmental outlays for vaccine development, the same governments hesitate to exert the authority they already have to compel the drug companies to temporarily waive their intellectual property. A draft resolution on this issue by India and South Africa, which was submitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in October 2020, remains on the shelf. It appears that the sanctity of profit overrides the sanctity of life.
This is absurd. The World Health Organization has determined that we need the vaccination of 70% of the global population to eradicate the plague. The billions donated by the governments of the US and Germany were meant to achieve that goal. But now they refrain from intervening, and the goal slips away.
The People’s Vaccine campaign shows the way forward
A coalition of world politicians and scientists called The People’s Vaccine is campaigning to change this reality by enabling third-world pharm companies to get the assistance they need for reaching the 70% threshold.
In Israel one hears nothing of this discussion. While boasting of its lead in the struggle against Corona, its government—both the previous and the current one—has adopted a narrow-minded policy of vaccine nationalism. Its government and medical establishment are betting on Pfizer. They sell the illusion that if enough Israelis get vaccinated, the plague will stop.
Israel has not yet donated a single vaccine to the global “pool” called Covax, the program by which the World Health Organization (WHO) organizes vaccines for the poor countries of the global south. The only criticism of Pfizer in Israel comes from the anti-vaxxers, who take positions ranging from Covid-denial to science-denial.
Physicians and scientists in Israel call to change course
The above-mentioned letter of the Israeli physicians and scientists supported the People’ Vaccine initiative and called on the government to change course. ItsAmong those signing the letter were Prof. Siegal Sadetzki, the former Head of Public Health Services in Ministry of Health, Dr. Dorit Nitzan WHO Regional Emergency Director of the European Region, and Prof. Nihaya Daoud, Department of Public Health, Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
The letter referred to the decision to administer a third shot, the “booster,” urging that it must occur in tandem with a commitment to vaccinate the world. “It is understandable that the elected leadership of a country will do all it can to help its own citizens in a time of crisis, but one also expects global solidarity with poor populations who lack the same options. The gap in the percentage of vaccinations between rich and poor countries is morally evil, a mark of disgrace, as well as fertile ground for the development of mutations. WHO estimates that until about 70% of the world’s population has been vaccinated, none of us are. Not only is the health-security of humanity at stake, but also its morality.”
This important call came at a time of vaccine hoarding in the rich northern countries. In November, the UK discarded 600,000 doses of expired vaccine instead of shipping them in time to needy countries.
A challenge to humanity
Humanity faces an emergency that requires international mobilization across borders to ensure the life and health of humanity. If we cannot work together against Covid, how can expect to cope with climate change, a challenge that is even bigger and more complex?
The scientific and medical knowledge behind the vaccines is a public asset, based on decades of experiment—often in universities, research institutes and hospitals, government-owned and publicly funded.
To produce, transport and inject 11 billion vaccines (enough to inoculate 70% of the global population twice) would cost no more than $40-50 billion, a pittance compared to the harm that will come if we don’t—apart from the sheer immorality of the current stinginess.
The right to intellectual property must not take precedence over basic human needs, above all the right to life. The surrender of common sense to the dictates of the free market has thwarted the COVAX project, which WHO set up to raise donations to purchase vaccines for 92 poor countries. Of the 1.8 billion vaccines that were promised (when 11 billion are needed!), COVAX has so far raised less than 400 million.
The temporary waiver of intellectual property, established by the World Trade Organization as a way of meeting emergencies like the current one, would oblige private companies to share their knowledge and enable mass production of life-saving medicines and vaccines. The draft resolution on this issue has won the support of 112 countries, including the US. Europe, however, has dragged its feet and the decision on the India / SA proposal has been postponed.
If we want to stop the next wave of Corona, and the next pandemic, we must adopt the call of the People’s Vaccine: “No one is safe until all are safe!”
