The world's richest nations are vaccinating one person every second, while developing countries are facing critical medical supply shortages and have thus been unable to administer sufficient doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The costs associated with mass immunization are substantial, and for developing countries with limited fiscal resources, the prospect of mass immunization seems implausible. 

Lack of access to vaccines in Third-World countries is not a new phenomena. Vaccines for other life-threatening diseases such as polio or tuberculosis have been available for decades, yet even today, many people in poorer countries do not have access to those same vaccines that most developed countries consider commonplace. However, with COVID-19, a global public health issue and variant strands that are springing up where large fractions of populations remain unvaccinated are crossing borders and threatening lives. Developed countries remain at the front of the queue for the vaccine rollout. The UK, the US, and most countries in the EU had immunised all priority groups by the end of March, and other wealthy countries are expected to catch up by the end of June. However, underdeveloped countries are still experiencing the COVID-19 vaccine rollout at an alarmingly low rate.  Agathe Demarais, the Global Forecasting Director of The Economist Intelligence Unit, theorized that “most developing countries will not have widespread access to the shots before 2023 at the earliest.” This lack of COVID-19 vaccine equity has become a plague with unfathomable, fatal consequences.

The entire continent of Africa has received just 2% of the world's vaccine doses so far, even though over 17% of the world’s population lives there. According to Our World in Data, as of May 17, 2021, Madagascar has had the lowest vaccination rate, with only 609 total administered vaccinations in a country of 28.4 million. In contrast, almost 1 in 4 people in the US have been vaccinated. In April, developing countries were just starting to see small volumes of vaccines arrive for the most vulnerable group of people — frontline health care workers. By comparison, health care workers in the US started receiving the vaccine in early December. High-income countries used up a tremendous amount of the limited vaccine supply earlier this year.  The US is now producing vaccines at a rate that implies there will be a surplus vaccine scenario of one billion by December, even if the entire US population over five years old is administered the vaccine. 

To combat unfair access to vaccines among rich and poor nations, an international effort known as “the COVAX scheme” was created. In February, Ghana was the first country to receive COVAX vaccines. Since then, tens of millions of doses have been shipped across six continents. Other recipients of COVAX vaccines include Algeria, Malawi, and Uganda in Africa, Iran and Iraq in the Middle East, and Barbados, El Salvador, and Nicaragua in Central America. COVAX hopes to distribute two billion doses by the end of the year. Yet, critics have argued that the COVAX rollout is not moving quickly enough. Wealthy countries have tried undermining the work of COVAX, and there have been problems with vaccine deliveries due to growing health crises in target countries. Twenty million extra doses are now required to make up a shortfall in deliveries. 

Viruses don’t recognize borders, so the global community must work together to ensure the safety of all in the midst of this devastating pandemic.

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Cover Photo Courtesy of Elyas Alwazir