WEF 2022: Not sharing Covid vaccines widely is racism, says UN official

Just 13 per cent of people in low-income countries, mostly brown and black, are vaccinated, says Winnie Byanyima

Denying life-saving vaccines to "people of colour" amounts to racism, said UN Undersecretary-General Winnie Byanyima on Wednesday at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2022.

Some 18 months after the first Covid-19 vaccines became available, 75 per cent of people in high-income countries, mainly white, are fully vaccinated, while just 13 per cent of people in low-income countries, mostly brown and black, are vaccinated, she said.

“Racism is not only when black people or brown people cannot breathe because of police violence. Racism is when black people, brown people, people of colour take their last breath because of policy violence, when they are denied life-saving, pandemic-ending medicines… when they can’t access care or education because debt is choking them. That’s racism,” said Byanyima while speaking at a session on racial equity in Davos.

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Byanyima pointed the finger at the companies and governments that had invested in the vaccines. She drew a parallel with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, when antiretroviral treatments made available in the US allowed those with the disease to live long and happy lives.

Cheryl Dorsey, President of Echoing Green, highlighted the failure of leading companies to deliver on pledges made at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“As of January this year, by some measures, only 1 per cent of the $67 billion pledged toward racial equity by the largest companies in the world has been dispersed,” she said. 

She added that “only 22 Fortune 500 companies fully cover race and ethnicity in their ESG reporting”, while over 48,000 posts for directors and vice-presidents of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in US companies remain open.