Rich countries are accused of 'hoarding' coronavirus vaccines, leaving poorer nations at risk of struggling with their outbreaks for years

• Campaigners are speaking out against rich countries' outsize access to COVID-19 vaccines, with poorer nations struggling to reserve doses for their populations.
• People's Vaccine Alliance, a network made up of charities such as Amnesty International, estimated that nearly 70 countries would be able to vaccinate just one in 10 people next year without help.
• It urged vaccine makers to share their technology to ensure billions of people don't miss a vaccine.
• Many countries have preordered vaccine doses, with one vaccine approved for use in the UK and several others in late stages of testing.

As the UK begins inoculating its population with the first COVID-19 vaccine approved in the West, an advocacy group is speaking out about rich countries' outsize access to vaccines.

The People's Vaccine Alliance, a network made up of charities such as Amnesty International and Oxfam, estimated Wednesday that nearly 70 countries combined would be able to vaccinate just one in 10 of their people next year without help.

At the same time, it tweeted that an unnamed group of the world's richest countries had "enough to vaccinate their entire populations nearly 3 TIMES OVER."

That statistic assumed that all of the vaccines currently in clinical trials would be approved for use. Amid uncertainty earlier this year, countries like the US reserved hundreds of millions of vaccine doses from multiple manufacturers, hedging their bets about which would be authorized by regulators and how quickly.

Stephen Cockburn, Amnesty International's head of economic and social justice, described that strategy as "hoarding."

"The hoarding of vaccines actively undermines global efforts to ensure that everyone, everywhere can be protected from COVID-19," he said in a press release. "Rich countries have clear human-rights obligations not only to refrain from actions that could harm access to vaccines elsewhere but also to cooperate and provide assistance to countries that need it."

Anna Marriott, Oxfam's health-policy manager, also said: "No one should be blocked from getting a lifesaving vaccine because of the country they live in or the amount of money in their pocket.

"But unless something changes dramatically, billions of people around the world will not receive a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 for years to come."

Experts have previously warned that some low-income countries could have to wait years before they could get enough vaccines for most of their populations, with one estimate suggesting 2024.

The People's Vaccine Alliance said that wealthy countries with 14% of the world's population had ordered 53% of the "most promising" vaccines.

The UK started vaccinating people Tuesday.

The People's Vaccine Alliance tweeted that it was "great" the vaccination - which used the shot produced by Pfizer and BioNTech - took place, adding: "But all vaccine producers MUST share their science, technology and know-how NOW, otherwise billions could miss out. We need a #PeoplesVaccine, not a profit vaccine."

In the US, a panel of Food and Drug Administration advisors is scheduled to meet Thursday to assess Pfizer's vaccine. It could then be authorized for use within 24 hours.

There are already some programs in place to try to ensure more equal access to vaccines.

Johnson & Johnson has said it will not make a profit through selling its vaccine to poorer nations, and AstraZeneca has said it will make no profit from its vaccine.

But the campaigners say these companies' promises are not enough to vaccinate the global population, according to the BBC.

A World Health Organization effort to ensure global vaccine access, known as Covax, is also underway, though the People's Vaccine Alliance said this also wasn't sufficient, according to the BBC.

China has said any vaccine it makes would be a global public good. One of its vaccine candidates, produced by Sinopharm, was this week found to be 86% effective in a late-stage trial held in the United Arab Emirates.

Other groups have also called for vaccine makers to work with countries to ensure they get the vaccines at cost.

Dr. Sidney Wong, the executive codirector of Doctors Without Borders' Access Campaign, said on Tuesday: "Right now, we're in a situation where a lion's share of the limited number of first doses have already been snatched up by a handful of countries like the US and UK, as well as the EU, leaving very little for other countries in the short term.

"What we really want to see is a rapid expansion of the overall global supply, so there are more vaccines to go around and doses can be allocated according to WHO's public health criteria, not a country's ability to pay."