Rich countries have secured enough coronavirus vaccines to protect their populations nearly three times over by the end of 2021, Amnesty International and other groups said, possibly depriving billions of people in poorer areas.

Amnesty and other organisations including Frontline AIDS, Global Justice Now and Oxfam, urged governments and the pharmaceutical industry to take action to ensure intellectual property of vaccines is shared widely, Reuters reported.

“Nearly 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate one in ten people against Covid-19 next year unless urgent action is taken,” Amnesty International said, based on recent calculations.

“Updated data shows that rich nations representing just 14 per cent of the world's population have bought up 53 per cent of all the most promising vaccines so far,” it said.