Equitable Access of Covid-19 vaccines in Pakistan – a reality or a fallacy?

Human rights were made to provide for humans first regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property, birth, or another status as provided for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). UDHR states that human rights are universal and will apply equally throughout. Recently though, after the rapid development of the Covid-19 vaccine, the distribution of it globally, depicts a vastly different picture. There has been a clear divide in the vaccine distribution between high-income countries, which are getting vaccinated 25 times faster than low-income and middle-income (LMICs) countries.
Pakistan received over a million covid-19 doses of Sinopharm from China, which were then directed towards the healthcare workers and senior citizens initially. As time elapsed, Pakistan managed to procure different kinds of Covid-19 vaccines including Sinovac, CanSino, Sputnik, AstraZeneca, and eventually Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. However, Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Sputnik were and still are not available to the public of Pakistan. For a quick second, Sputnik was only available in the private sector. Thus, the problem persists – do we even need to think about the racial minorities, immigrants, the working poor, prisoners and detainees that are not getting the vaccine? Because, let alone the groups mentioned, the distribution of vaccines is inequitable regardless of who you are in the third world.
The right to achieve the highest attainable standard of health was articulated in the constitution of the World Health Organisation and nearly every country in the world has ratified it. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights specifically recognizes the right of everyone to have the highest quality of medicine available for both physical and mental health and this applies to the equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines globally as well.
The global south has suffered from the inequitable distribution of medicine for decades now. Antiviral therapy for HIV/AIDS and vaccines for smallpox is a clear example. The world responded when the “South” raised a voice against the unfair distribution of medicine, resulting in the establishment of the Global Fund to mitigate AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Similarly, in the 1970s amid Cold War tensions, the world recognised that all of humanity would need to be protected to eradicate the smallpox disease.
The Government of Pakistan can vaccinate its citizens only if they have enough vaccines. The registration of vaccines is underway, but, because of non-availability, citizens have found it difficult to get vaccinated. There is a constant backlog as some people are waiting for their second dose even after the due date has passed and a lot are still waiting for their first. Vaccines manufactured for higher-income countries need to be distributed equally amongst LMICs, concentrating on those vaccines with the best data on effectiveness for all; this was the approach taken with the smallpox vaccine programme and it proved to be a success.
As for countries like the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, more than 50% of the population has been vaccinated. With the rigorous on-going drive, these states aim to resume their daily operations completely by fall 2021. Pakistan on the other hand, has vaccinated 1.6% of their population. At this rate it will take Pakistan ten years to fully vaccinate its population.
To have healthy communities worldwide, we need to see how human rights and health frameworks can be revitalised and reinvigorated for a more equitable distribution of vaccines in case of a pandemic.