Rich countries could have prevented new Covid variant, say experts
The emergence of new variants like B.1.1.5.2.9 could have been avoided if wealthy countries had ensured poorer nations had access to Covid jabs, experts have said.
Scientists have described B.1.1.5.2.9, detected in countries including South Africa, as the “most worrying we’ve seen”, with it found to contain a large number of mutations that may not only make it more transmissible, but may also help it to evade the body’s immune system.
But experts such as Tim Bierley, a pharma campaigner at Global Justice Now, said the rise of the variant had been “entirely avoidable” and that conditions for its emergence had been created by low- and middle-income countries being “actively prevented” by the UK from having equitable access to vaccines.
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