Covid vaccine figures lay bare global inequality as global target missed

Poorer countries were at the back of the queue when the vaccines were rolled out.

The latest figures from Our World in Data show that there are huge inequalities in vaccination rates around the world. Nearly three in four people in high-income nations have received a vaccine.

Activists want a renewed push to increase vaccine take-up in order to slow the spread of the virus. The World Health Organization said this week that Covid infections in Europe tripled and hospitalisations doubled in the last six weeks.

The Covid response will remain with us in the world unless we achieve equitable action in addressing it. It has shown that it can be more dangerous than the original.

Low-income countries had to wait months to receive vaccine doses because of the Covax vaccine sharing system. The lion's share of available vaccines was bought by wealthy countries.

The vaccine doses were not always enough to meet the demands of health centers. Maaza Seyoum is the Global South convener of the People's Vaccine Alliance.

The Delta wave, which resulted in high death rates in some countries, helped convince some that the vaccine did not work. Seyoum said that we cannot rely on rich countries to do the right thing.

The world's poor countries have ended up at the back of the queue, making them feel less important than other people.

The economic issues that have come with it, and the fact that 100 million more people have been pushed into poverty, make it difficult to ask people in that environment to take out a lot of money.

We have to imagine what it would be like if we had to wait for a service to be available.

According to Our World in Data, as of 10 July only 15.8% of people in low-income countries were fully vaccination, compared with 45% in lower-middle income countries, 73.5% in high-income countries and 78.7% in upper-middle income countries.

Africa has the lowest number of vaccine users. Seven of the 10 countries with the lowest rates of full vaccinations are in Africa. There are three other countries. The UK has a booster vaccination rate that is much higher than the rest of the world.

Seyoum said that Covax had failed because of greed and poor planning.

According to the latest data from the Duke Global Health Innovation Center, Canada, Australia and the UK have bought enough vaccine to protect their populations multiple times.

South Africa was able to purchase the equivalent of half a dose for every person. The African Union purchased 330m doses of Moderna and Janssen vaccines, which equates to 0.2 doses a person across the bloc.

Moderna, which should be kept in very cold temperatures, has been turned down by the Covax because it has a short shelf life. Poor transport and cold chain infrastructure is what makes them unsuitable for countries.

The delivery of vaccines last year made it hard for poorer countries to plan their vaccine roll outs. It called for delivery times to match the times needed for lower income countries to plan their immunisation campaigns.

Dr Rahman said that more people from low-income countries should be included in the vaccine discussion.

The vaccine delivery partnership was doing a great job, but it was late. She said that it was almost negligently late because there were a lot of New Yorkers in the room.

Rich countries think that if they just protect themselves, they will get out of the epidemic, but that is completely ridiculous. The head of WHO said last year that no one is safe until everyone is safe.

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