While the west bought billions of vaccines quickly and cheaply, some people argue a global vaccine apartheid is unfolding with less wealthy nations missing out on adequate supplies. There are predictions that sub-Saharan countries, for example, will have to wait until 2024, and end up paying more. More advanced nations like the UK and the US, it is argued, only pay lip service to the slogan ‘no one is safe until everyone is safe’ and that unequal global distribution will leave dangerous reservoirs of the virus around the world.

There are calls for the richer nations to send supplies elsewhere even before they’ve vaccinated all of the their adult populations. China and Russia are already coming to the aid of those countries in need, but is this a genuine attempt to help or a bid for greater global influence? And, in the rush for vaccines, has there been an unseemly ‘vaccine nationalism’ displayed by some industrialised nations?

Join Zeinab Badawi, her panel of experts and question askers from around the globe.
Panel:-
John Nkengasong Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; expert virologist from Cameroon.
2nd Panellist TBC Show less