WHY KENYA MIGHT NOT GET CORONA VACCINE

At the time of publication, the world had over 55 million confirmed cases of coronavirus with the number rising by second. The virus is leaving a sad wake behind. It has already claimed over 1.3 million people leaving the universe in a perpetual state of mourning.

Everyone in the world is pinning hopes on effective vaccine. Poor nations like Kenya might mourn a little longer after reports emerged that we might have to wait a little longer to access the panacea.

Early results indicate that we already have two vaccines that are very highly effective. The search for a vaccine has not stopped with this breakthrough though, several others have already reached late stage trials with many more at various stages of development.

Although no vaccine has been approved yet, many countries have already started purchasing huge doses in advance. Predictably, these are rich nations putting poor and corrupt countries like Kenya at a disadvantage.

According to Duke University – South Carolina research centre, 6.4 billion doses have already been bought with an agreement to buy extra 3.2 billion. Countries are placing orders for potential vaccines while in Kenya people are still debating whether to hold political rallies or not.

Advance purchasing is not a greedy behaviour but rather a very well established norm in the pharmaceutical industry. It helps to incentivise the development of products as well as provide much needed funds for trials.

The downside of advance payment according to Clare Wenham of London School of Economics and Political Studies is that whoever pays most at the earliest stage of productions gets the rights to jump to the front of the queue.

Middle income countries with manufacturing capacity are finding ways to circumnavigate this by negotiating large purchase agreements as part of manufacturing deals. Sadly, Kenya is not in this category. We have been spending a lot of our taxes in sustaining a bloated wage bill instead of concentrating with development and posterity.

Wealthy countries are spending fortune in purchasing multiple options. This is because it is not yet known which vaccines will work. According to the latest data, India, EU, US, Canada and UK are the top countries that have reserved the most doses.

The World Health Organization speaking to the BBC said, “understandable that leaders want to protect their own pwoplw first – they are accountable to their citizens but the response to this global pandemic must be collective”.

The options are limited for Kenya and other African countries. Yet again, we will need to swallow our pride and beg for vaccines. We will depend on the benevolence of our former colonial masters. Of course if we stopped being a greedy and corrupt continent we wouldn’t be reduced to beggars but sadly corruption is a tattoo our leaders have forced us to wear proudly.