The coronavirus crisis in South Africa is far from over despite falling case numbers in recent weeks. The virus has claimed more than 50,000 lives, and many health experts predict a devastating third wave. Complicating matters is a new coronavirus mutation known as n501, which threatens to upend South Africa’s vaccination plans.

Unprecedented scientific collaboration has expedited the development of the new vaccine candidates, but patents protecting the bottom lines of the pharmaceutical companies have hampered efforts to manufacture vaccines at scale. Meanwhile, the US and Western Europe have hoarded limited supplies through bilateral negotiations with Big Pharma. Developing nations in the Global South have been left behind.

The vaccination gap between rich and poor nations grows starker by the day. According to Global Justice Now, a grassroots campaign in the UK that focuses on justice and development in the Global South, 10 countries account for approximately 75% of the COVID-19 vaccines administered worldwide. About 130 countries—accounting for about 2.5 billion people—are yet to administer a single dose. This artificial scarcity creates another global crisis, making room for the virus to mutate and potentially grow more contagious and vaccine-resistant.

As Anna Marriott, a health policy manager at the global anti-poverty organization Oxfam, argued this month:

The world is in a race to reach herd immunity to get this disease under control, save millions of lives and get our economy going again. This is a race we have to win before new mutations render our existing vaccines obsolete. Yet the pursuit of profits and monopolies means we are losing that race…We urgently need to lift the veil of corporate secrecy and instead have open-source vaccines, mass produced by as many vaccine players as possible, including crucially those in developing countries.——