<p>The boss of British drugs giant AstraZeneca, which with Oxford University has produced a Covid vaccine, denounced Monday a "me first" approach by some countries to obtaining doses.</p>.<p>AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot, speaking at a virtual event for the Davos World Economic Forum, also attacked a lack of global preparation for the deadly coronavirus pandemic.</p>.<p>The arrival of ground-breaking Covid-19 vaccines could have been grounds for celebrating, "but it unfortunately wasn't because there was a little bit of 'me first' behaviour", Soriot said.</p>.<p>"Globally, it is fair to say we could and should have been better prepared for this pandemic," he added.</p>.<p>Soriot noted however that "things are changing and international collaboration is emerging" over the coronavirus that has claimed the lives of more than two million people.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/moderna-says-covid-vaccine-effective-against-uk-south-africa-variants-943298.html" target="_blank">Moderna says Covid vaccine effective against UK, South Africa variants</a></strong></p>.<p>"There are many good examples of tremendous public-private collaboration actually in many countries," he said.</p>.<p>Going forward, "the first thing to do is to invest in prevention and early detection and early treatment", Soriot added.</p>.<p>He noted that among the world's most industrialised countries, only three-percent of health expenditure is spent on prevention.</p>.<p>"Twenty percent of this 3.0 percent... is spent on immunisation and early detections of disease.</p>.<p>"So, essentially, we kind of tend to wait for people to become sick to try to address that, as opposed to early detecting (of) disease and preventing it."</p>
<p>The boss of British drugs giant AstraZeneca, which with Oxford University has produced a Covid vaccine, denounced Monday a "me first" approach by some countries to obtaining doses.</p>.<p>AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot, speaking at a virtual event for the Davos World Economic Forum, also attacked a lack of global preparation for the deadly coronavirus pandemic.</p>.<p>The arrival of ground-breaking Covid-19 vaccines could have been grounds for celebrating, "but it unfortunately wasn't because there was a little bit of 'me first' behaviour", Soriot said.</p>.<p>"Globally, it is fair to say we could and should have been better prepared for this pandemic," he added.</p>.<p>Soriot noted however that "things are changing and international collaboration is emerging" over the coronavirus that has claimed the lives of more than two million people.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/moderna-says-covid-vaccine-effective-against-uk-south-africa-variants-943298.html" target="_blank">Moderna says Covid vaccine effective against UK, South Africa variants</a></strong></p>.<p>"There are many good examples of tremendous public-private collaboration actually in many countries," he said.</p>.<p>Going forward, "the first thing to do is to invest in prevention and early detection and early treatment", Soriot added.</p>.<p>He noted that among the world's most industrialised countries, only three-percent of health expenditure is spent on prevention.</p>.<p>"Twenty percent of this 3.0 percent... is spent on immunisation and early detections of disease.</p>.<p>"So, essentially, we kind of tend to wait for people to become sick to try to address that, as opposed to early detecting (of) disease and preventing it."</p>