Amnesty International calls for vaccine equity: Only four percent of people living in low-income countries fully vaccinated

KATHMANDU, Feb 14: Amnesty International has accused the pharmaceutical companies of monopolizing technology, blocking and lobbying against the sharing of intellectual property, charging high prices for vaccines and prioritizing COVID-19 vaccine supplies to wealthy countries.

According to Amnesty International, as many as ten billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines were produced last year, more than enough to reach the 40% target of global vaccination set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the end of 2021 but only four percent of those living in low-income countries had been fully vaccinated by the end of the year.