LONDON: The lack of international solidarity exposed by the pandemic, particularly after rich countries hogged COVID-19 vaccines, led to cries of “never again”. Never again should vital data and samples be held back in an outbreak; never again should the global South be abandoned by the global North in the quest for money, drugs and vaccines.
In light of the current monkeypox outbreak, those pledges now look hollow. High-income countries are once again scrambling for vaccines to which African countries have little access, even though the disease has existed in central and west Africa for decades.
Monkeypox is suspected in 70 deaths in Africa this year, while there have been no reported fatalities among the 4,000-plus cases recorded outside the continent.
“The place to start any vaccination should be Africa and not elsewhere,” said Ahmed Ogwell, acting head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The lofty ideal of global health as a public good is again faltering in the face of national interests. The fragmented response is not just a problem for controlling monkeypox. It also signals trouble for the global pandemic treaty that is currently being drafted, designed to bind countries more tightly to acting for the collective good.
FEW SCIENTISTS PREPARED TO RULE OUT A MONKEYPOX PANDEMIC
An advisory panel that met at the World Health Organization last week decided against labelling monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at Yale University, said it was “a big mistake”, given that containment is so far failing.
Perhaps the panel felt that suddenly acknowledging an epidemic that has been bubbling away in Nigeria since 2017 would give the wrong signal.
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