'Vaccine nationalism': Every country for itself?

The efforts between some world powers to secure coronavirus vaccine deals with pharmaceutical companies may be undermining the World Health Organization’s plans to buy in bulk and distribute the vaccines more equally.

And it's being called "vaccine nationalism" by Doctors without Borders.

A slew of deals is underway by the United States, Britain, and the European Union with companies like Pfizer, BioNtech, and Moderna.

But the United Nations believes the WHO plan is a fairer, cheaper, and more effective way of curbing the pandemic.

The concern is that vaccine supply and allocation in this pandemic will echo that of the H1N1 flu virus in 2009/2010 -- when rich nations bought up the available supply of H1N1 vaccines, leaving poor countries with none.

Back then -- H1N1 turned out to be a milder disease and the pandemic ultimately petered out, so the impact on infections and deaths from vaccine imbalances was limited.

But this time, experts say, COVID-19 is a far greater threat, and leaving swathes of the world vulnerable will only extend the pandemic and the damage it can cause.

For example, the Council on Foreign Relations -- the Washington think tank -- told Reuters, quote, "the handful of nations that are locking up supply of vaccine competes with the multilateral supply deals" and "at the end of the day, vaccine manufacturing is a finite resource. You can expand it, but only so much."

One global scheme called COVAX is designed to secure rapid and equitable global access to vaccines.

More than 75 wealthier countries have expressed interest in the COVAX financing project, along with 90 poorer ones who would be supported through donations, but there are growing signs that rich nations would rather go it alone.

The United States, China, and Russia are not among countries expressing interest.

COVAX's aim is to distribute doses for at least 20% of countries' populations.