Is the West hoarding Covid-19 vaccines?

Question

I read in the news that some organizations/poorer countries have been complaining that western countries are hoarding the Covid 19 vaccines. I have doubts about how true this is.

True, some countries did buy a few times more vaccine doses than the whole population. But it doesn't necessarily follow that these countries are hoarding the vaccines, to the point that others can't get their share on time. The others could also have purchased more vaccines than they ever need ( AKA hoarding the vaccines), provided that they can afford the bill and send in the order early enough.

Furthermore, there is a shelf-life with regards to the use of the vaccines, so what's the economical point of hoarding them?

Is there anything that I've missed?

Answer 1

The reason that western countries ordered more vaccine than they needed is because, at the time many of these orders were placed, these vaccines were still in various clinical trial phases. It was assumed at the time that many of these vaccines would not work, and so ordering excess was done to ensure that, should one become available, they were able to get their shipments in early.

Poor countries do not have as much ability to make risky orders like this, because they simply have less money available to them. This means that they're unable to place orders until the vaccines have been proven, by which point they have to go to the back of the queue behind those richer countries who did take the risk and got contracts in early.

When a country orders tens of millions of doses of vaccine, they're not delivered all at once, because the process of manufacturing vaccines is a complicated one. Part of the contracts between countries and vaccine manufacturers will include delivery schedules, indicating how many vaccine doses they can expect to receive in each month/quarter. This means most countries who have ordered excess still haven't received their entire orders yet, giving them the ability to either donate the excess, cancel the order for the excess, or do something else with them.

Answer 2

There are indeed a few cases where vaccines were held until close to expiry, and only then donated. Or destroyed, if the logistics didn't work out. But:

• Many vaccines require a second jab, a few weeks or months later. Delivery schedules have been erratic. So if a health system gets a million doses today, do they use them for a million people or do they hold back half for the second jab? This was even more complicated when the effectiveness of mixed vaccinations (e.g. first AstraZeneca, then Moderna) was unclear. One patient means two doses, and would it be fair to start with the first dose if the second dose cannot be assured?
• On a related note, many rich nations are reaching the point where anybody who wants the first jab can get it. A significant part of the population doesn't want it. Would it be moral to donate the free doses now, or should they be kept in case the people reconsider?
• As Joe C pointed out, rich nations placed speculative orders on vaccines which were not yet approved at the time, from factories which were not yet built. Some nations came close to ordering enough of each type, just in case it was the first to be approved and delivered. Expensive, but not as expensive as a prolonged lockdown. Depending on the contracts, they might have several hundred percent over-supply once all contracts are fulfilled. Not yet.
  Others ordered from half a dozen companies with enough for their residents if two or three out of the candidate vaccines came through.

Answer 3

According to euronews:

The US has discouraged exports of American-made vaccines so it can inoculate its own population first, while the EU has become the world's leading provider.
...
Macron hit back at the criticisms, arguing that "the Anglo-Saxons block many of these ingredients" needed to make vaccines, referring to Washington and London.
“Today, 100% of vaccines produced in the United States of America are for the American market.”

Answer 4

Depends what you mean by hoarding.

The vaccine is certainly not being distributed to all at the same rate.

Thirty-five countries, mostly in Africa and Asia, and including highly populated nations like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (0.04%), Vietnam (1.63%), and Ethiopia (1.65%), have so far vaccinated less than 2% of their citizens. Seventy-five countries have reached less than 10% of their populations.

Taking a wikipedia map as of its last upload on June 26, 2021:

In the early months of vaccine availability there was a fair bit of "vaccine nationalism" by the US and the EU to get first access. And that included the EU asserting rights over access basically because the manufacturing facility was on EU soil.

Citing Economist, March 13, 2021:

Since January 29th, companies wanting to export vaccines from the EU have had to seek permission from both the country where production takes place and the European Commission. Trade is still flowing; by March 9th the EU had exported 34m vaccine doses to 31 countries. But the process now involves extra paperwork, missed flights and general uncertainty. In one case the checks delayed jabs meant for a trial in Latin America. They also disrupted a shipment that was going abroad and had been intended to validate the quality of a bigger batch meant for the EU. (Both were eventually approved.)

An AZ vaccine shipment to Australia got blocked by Italy in March.

And the US banned exports on some vaccine manufacturing inputs to India (at least until April).

This is lessening as supply issues due to high demand for vaccines is gradually being replaced by government concern at overcoming vaccine hesitancy in a number of countries, such as France or the US.

As a Canadian, I am happy to a beneficiary of both a strong purchasing program and strong public uptake. BC, where I live has 78% of first-shotted adults and the 2nd shots are also trending up nicely. Covid rates, "coincidentally", are crashing down.

But I can't help but think that our drive to vaccinate even 12 year olds sounds like luxury to many less fortunate countries.

Given that covid has shown itself to be quite adept at mutating to more problematic strains, we should be cautious at patting ourselves on the back and congratulating ourselves that all is well: pockets of high infection rates in poorer countries can easily come back to bite us, as they already have.