The conclusion of the three-day summit of the G7 countries has brought to the limelight several vital decisions followed by even more imperative questions. One such decision is the pledge to vaccinate poorer countries against the coronavirus by donating one billion vaccine doses. The USA has promised to donate half of the total, while the UK will be contributing 100 million doses.
Joe Biden’s United States Of America administration has promised 500 million doses.
However, how are they to decide which countries can be categorized as ‘poor’? Will it be Low-income nations or developing nations with extremely large populations but not enough vaccines for 5% of the country?
Secondly, one billion vaccines are nowhere near sufficient to vaccinate the poor nations, regardless of which of the above two approaches are taken. But, suppose we go with the latter, then who is the lucky first and who is the unlucky last? Pakistan or India? Nigeria or Bangladesh? How can preferential treatment based on other factors such as ideology and religion be prevented from stepping in? The same goes for low-income countries as well.
Last but not the least, is this another tactic of the United States of America, now that China is emerging as a global power and competitor? Is it a way to push it down, as witnessed in some other verdicts taken over the three days, including calling out China for its “nonmarket policies and human rights abuses”?