Sir Andrew Pollard said: ‘We are threatened by pathogens that might kill a third of people or half of people and there is no way that Governments are going to share doses in that scenario’
If there is a more deadly pandemic than Covid today, rich countries will be even more greedy about vaccine supply, according to one of Britain’s top scientists.
Sir Andrew Pollard, an infection and immunity expert at Oxford University who helped develop the AstraZeneca jab, said there has been ‘considerable vaccine nationalism’ in wealthy countries.
He said that the virus kills less then 1% of people. Therefore, there is no way governments can share supplies if the next pandemic causes more than a quarter of the population to die.
He suggested that more vaccine manufacturing facilities should be established around the globe to ensure that developing countries have greater access to vaccines as they become available.
Sir Andrew, a prominent member of one of the UK Government’s scientific advisory panels the JCVI, has been one of the loudest critics of the so-called vaccine apartheid that has transpired during the Covid outbreak.
He even lobbied against booster Covid shots, arguing that they were only as effective in third doses than in poor countries, where the vulnerable don’t have a jab.
Richer countries have pledged to donate more that a billion doses Covid vaccines for the benefit of poorer nations. Only 400million Covid vaccines have been donated so far.
And there are massive disparities in coverage — with more than 80 per cent of people double-jabbed in rich countries such as United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Portugal, compared to just one per cent in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Chad.
There are differences between countries in vaccine coverage. More than 80 percent of people in rich countries double-jabbed, while less than one percent in the poorest. According to Our World in Data, the UK double-jabbed 67% of the population, while the number is as high at 86.6 percent in the United Arab Emirates. But just 5.95 per cent of people in Africa have been jabbed overall, but less than one per cent are fully immunised in Ethiopia and Nigeria — some of the lowest uptake in the world
Today, Britain announced that it would donate all of its supply of Janssen vaccines (which are made by Johnson and Johnson) to countries in need. This one-shot shot was hailed as encouraging vaccine-sceptics not to be afraid to get inoculated.
In the UK, over 100 million Covid jabs were given. Ministers are focusing on the rollout of the vaccine to 12-15-year-olds and boosters for over-50s.
The UK has committed to donate 100million Covid jabs to Covax — a scheme for wealthier nations to share jabs with poorer countries — by next year, while the US said it will hand over 500million injections.
Sir Andrew said this at an Imperial College London conference on data analytics in pandemics.
“So you must have production locally.”
He said, “We cannot anticipate a future in which governments don’t want to focus their attention on their own people, who have elected us.”
“We’ve experienced a mild pandemic with less that one percent mortality.
“And even in that context, we have seen very significant vaccine nationalism.
“But, we are under threat from pathogens which might kill a third or half the population and there is no way for Governments to share their doses in that scenario.
“So, I think that we really need to think very differently about how production is managed and how international cooperation can be achieved to improve public health policies that target those most at risk of dying.
He suggested that more effort was needed in order to ensure that vaccines are distributed more evenly in future pandemics.
According to Our World in Data the UK has double-jabbed 67 percent of the population. But the figure in United Arab Emirates is as high as 86.6 percentage.
But just 5.95 per cent of people in Africa have been jabbed overall, but less than one per cent are fully immunised in Ethiopia and Nigeria — some of the lowest uptake in the world.
Sir Andrew stated that it was “distressing” to find enough Covid vaccines in May to give jabs all healthcare workers, older adults, or those with underlying medical conditions, but they were not distributed internationally.
Professor Dame Angela McLean was the chief scientific advisor for the Ministry of Defence. She stated that it is a mistake to not wear face masks in enclosed spaces.
She said, “Even in the Tube where it is mandatory, there are lots people not wearing masks.”
‘My personal opinion is that’s a mistake.’