Oxford Covid jab creator criticises west for ‘embarrassment of riches’ in vaccine suppy

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy One of the creators of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid jab has hit out at the west’s “embarrassment of riches” in vaccine supply as she called on world leaders to do more to ensure developing countries can immunise their populations during the next phase of the pandemic. By early September 2021, 41.5 per cent of the world’s population had received at least one dose of a vaccine, yet only 1.9 per cent of people in low-income countries had, Prof Gilbert wrote in the letter, co-authored with Dr Richard Hatchett, the chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. “Such extensions of the use of Covid-19 vaccines by high-income countries will place additional pressure on global vaccine supplies and potentially further increase disparities between high-income countries and the rest of the world in terms of vaccine access.” The letter continues: “It is more crucial than ever that we do not forget the lives that could be saved by administering first and second doses to the most vulnerable populations worldwide and the opportunity that the global distribution of vaccines provides to protect all of us by reducing the selection of further variants.” However, the authors said that, fortunately, the number of vaccines being produced has increased “markedly” and even warned that there could be the prospect of an "embarrassment of riches" unless more is done to help lower-income countries get the infrastructure in place to offer more widespread vaccination. “The new imperative for Covax, and for international relief efforts more generally, will be to support delivery at scale to ensure that recipient countries are able to reach their coverage goals quickly.” Prof Gilbert said: “It’s encouraging to see that vaccine supply is becoming less of an issue, but no vaccine is effective until people have been vaccinated.