The emergence of the heavily mutated Covid-19 variant Omicron has thrown a spotlight on huge disparities in vaccination rates around the globe.

Its appearance comes as many richer nations are ramping up boosters amid a surge in infections of the Delta strain, while some poorer countries have not yet vaccinated even 1 per cent of their population.

Scientists have repeatedly warned that offering boosters in wealthy nations diverts doses from unvaccinated people in poor countries, paving the way for mutations that could threaten everyone - jabbed and unjabbed alike.

Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, said Omicron’s emergence had fulfilled predictions that virus transmission in areas with low vaccination rates would speed its evolution.

“The inequity that has characterised the global response has now come home to roost,” said Hatchett, whose coalition funds vaccine development.

The World Health Organization (WHO) wants the most vulnerable people worldwide to be fully vaccinated before wealthier nations give third shots or vaccinate children.

While many nations are racing to get a third shot in everyone’s arm, less than 6 per cent of people in low-income countries have had even one dose, according to the Our World in Data project co-led by Oxford University.

In the UAE, one of the first countries to introduce boosters, 98 per cent of the population have already received at least one dose and 88 per cent have received two.

In Britain, 75 per cent have had at least one shot, and in the United States nearly 70 per cent. Most of these are fully vaccinated.

By contrast, less than 3 per cent of people in Nigeria, Mali, Cameroon and Sudan have been vaccinated, the majority with only one dose. In Haiti only 1 per cent of people have been reached, and in Burundi just 0.01 per cent.

Read the full article about Omicron and worldwide vaccine inequity at Eco-Business.