Image credit: afp.com/Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA

The regional health agency in Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes said 260 people, including about 100 university students, were vaccinated against Covid-19 with doses that expired during September. Vaccines were supposed to be thawed on August 6 within 31 days of thawing, but were administered between September 7 and 21.

The error may be due to a defect in the marking of the melt date on the batch. Human error illustrating the stress experienced by health professionals in a context General hospital fracture.

If this error does not represent a health risk, according to the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines, it illustrates the dysfunction of the general hospital and more generally in the health system, associated with a lack of resources, and for health workers. Even if the government takes all necessary steps to vaccinate the population, chronic staff shortages remain a reality in the health sector, with dire consequences. This event raises the issue of vaccination management more broadly in a context where millions of doses are wasted, especially by wealthy nations.

When the vaccination rate in some countries is less than 1%, millions of doses are lost

Getting vaccinated is not without the rules of highly unequal capitalist competition. While some regions have very low vaccination rates such as In Africa, where less than 5% of the population has had a full course of immunizationIn other countries, millions of doses of vaccines are being phased out. This is especially the case in the United States which According to NBC Nearly 15 million doses have been delivered since March, out of 444 million doses distributed. If the reasons for these losses are multiple, they are mainly due to the fact that the imperialist powers were able to purchase excess doses, at the expense of other countries. in a The United Kingdom, for example, has planned approximately seven doses per person. If these rich nations hypocritically plan to redistribute these potions to other nations, implementation is often incomplete, if not impossible; This situation clearly illustrates the highly asymmetric means between countries in obtaining vaccines and vaccine imperialism.

This highly unequal distribution of vaccine doses, this colossal waste of doses, illustrates the contempt of the governments of imperialist countries for the lives of millions of people. While the epidemic is not over yet, it is essential to ensure that everyone has access to vaccination, by demanding that patents be lifted and mass production of vaccines available. While health workers, who have been on the front lines during the pandemic, have suffered from criminal cases in the general hospital, it is also necessary to demand the means that allow them to perform their work in the best conditions.