The vaccination gap between rich and poor countries has widened to a chasm. As science writer Stephen Buranyi noted this week in the Guardian: “Of the doses already given, about half have gone to the richest 16% of the world’s population. . . . According to analysis by the Center for Global Development and the Economist, nations in the global south may not reach widespread vaccination until 2023.”

That’s not a problem according to people like Bill Gates, whose claim to public health czardom is simply that he’s a multibillionaire. In an interview with Sky News, he assured us: “The actual death rate in the poorest countries has been quite low. So the places where you want to get everyone over sixty vaccinated, South Africa, Brazil, that will become a priority, just in the next three to four months when the US will move into that excess position.”

Translation: poor countries should be grateful to wait for the leftovers.