For more than a year the world has been under an unprecedented siege caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. On April 20, 2021 it was reported that 3,047,872 inhabitants of the world, i.e. more than half of Norway's population, have died from complications following the SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The word pandemic comes from two ancient Greek words (pan 'all' + dÄ"mos 'people'), so literally speaking 'pandemic' means all the people, the whole world. But in spite of the fact that all inhabitants of the global city are affected, albeit in different ways, by this virus, there are few signs among those in power to really join forces to fight the pandemic. A notable exception is COVAX, the WHO-led initiative to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, but a timely realization of this initiative is greatly hampered by the rise of vaccine nationalism in some of the most affluent regions of the world: in North America, in the UK and in the European Union, as well as in Iceland, Lichtenstein, Switzerland and Norway. As stated by Harry Kretchmer: 'vaccine nationalism', where countries prioritize their own vaccine needs, is forecast to handicap not just global health recovery but the economic one too. A study commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce confirms this statement predicting that the global economy stands to lose as much as 9.2 trillion USD if governments fail to ensure developing economies access to COVID-19 vaccines, as much as half of which would fall on advanced economies.
Trump is gone, but his political buzz word, 'America first', seems to have infected the minds of political leaders in the global north, because these countries' hoarding of billions of doses of COVID-19 to secure full coverage for their own populations represents a radical u-turn from their position expressed in the UN General Assembly Covid-19 resolution of September 11, 2020. 169 Member States voted in favor of this resolution, only Israel and the United States voted against. In the resolution the special challenges and needs of the most vulnerable countries are recognized and commitment to global solidarity are reaffirmed. And paragraph 12 of the resolution:
Urges Member States to enable all countries to have unhindered, timely access to quality, safe, efficacious and affordable diagnosis, therapeutics, medicines and vaccines, and essential health technologies, and their components, as well as equipment, for the COVID-19 response.
By November 2020, when the world had several vaccines yielding favorable results in clinical trials, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations and the International Generic and Biosimilars medicines association issued a joint statement that while the pharmaceutical industry is committed to ensuring equitable access of COVID vaccines and medicines, this was not entirely up to them and others will have to play their part. They highlighted several areas of concern, placing emphasis on the need for international solidarity, cooperation, coordination and support. One concern most relevant to this discussion is for multilateral org
