Oxfam study shows four times more COVID-19 deaths in poor countries linked to vaccine monopolies and corporate greed
March 4, 2022: Pandemic of Greed a new Report by Oxfam uses measures of excess deaths to estimate that 19.6 million people have died from COVID-19, over three times the official death toll. Based on this analysis, Oxfam calculated that for every death in a high-income country, an estimated four other people have died in a low or lower-middle income country.
Oxfam also calculated that three million COVID-19 deaths have occurred in the three months since the Omicron variant emerged. The figure shatters perceptions that Omicron’s milder illness means the pandemic is coming to an end, as the more contagious variant tears through unvaccinated populations, and more cases mean more deaths.
The report documents how vaccine monopiles held by a few pharmaceutical companies have made tens of billions of revenue from selling vaccines to high income countries, while millions are dying in low-income countries. It argues for vaccine equity through support for a waiver of World Trade Organisation's intellectual property rules on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, to make pharmaceutical companies share their science and knowhow with qualified producers in developing countries, so they are able to make their own doses.
Maaza Seyoum, Global South Convenor for the People’s Vaccine Alliance, said as the report was released
“As billions of people are still unable to access vaccines, some have the audacity to claim that the pandemic is over. That is an utter fallacy. Third and fourth doses in rich countries alone cannot erase the ever-rising death toll in lower-income countries.
“The charity approach to global vaccination has failed. Global south countries can and must manufacture vaccines and treatments for themselves – and they must maintain control of their own supplies. Rich countries must waive intellectual property rules on COVID-19 technologies and force big pharma to share the recipes.”
Read the full Report here.