Since December of 2020, around 40 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the world’s wealthiest nations, meanwhile, the vaccine distribution in poorer nations has been virtually nonexistent. Many nations have joined the global collaboration COVAX in order to ensure that all nations have access to these essential vaccines. COVAX is the vaccination branch of Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) launched in April 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. Currently, 92 low-income nations are eligible to receive vaccines through COVAX. To assist these poorer nations in the fight against COVID-19, Pfizer pledged to supply 40 million doses of their vaccine to COVAX at a not-for-profit price. The vaccines that Pfizer provides through COVAX will most likely be available within the first quarter of 2021.
COVAX is expected to be a source of vaccinations for the world’s poorest nations, but they need funding from wealthier nations to achieve the worldwide goal of vaccinating 20% of the population in every country by the end of 2021. This vaccination process is a global effort, which is why almost every nation besides Russia (and previously the U.S.) has joined the COVAX program. The U.S. was initially not involved in this program because former President Donald Trump cut ties with WHO in May of 2020. The Trump administration then declined an invitation to join COVAX because of the belief that WHO is “China-centric.” On January 21 of 2021, however, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease, confirmed that the U.S. will rejoin WHO and also aims to join COVAX in the near future. The U.S. would act as a funder of COVAX, not as a recipient since the country has already been able to purchase hundreds of millions of vaccine doses. The U.S. must join COVAX because the program relies on wealthy nations providing funding to develop and distribute vaccines, making up for what poorer nations cannot afford.
Despite COVAX’s best efforts, at the current rate of global vaccine distribution, most of the population in poorer nations will likely have to wait until 2023 or 2024 to get the COVID-19 vaccine (according to the Duke Global Health Innovation Center). WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the world is “on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure” because of the unequal distribution of vaccines. The vaccination inequities are prevalent partially because many wealthy nations acquired up to four times the amount of vaccine doses than their population actually needs. Gavi Vaccine Alliance CEO Seth Berkley estimated that altogether, wealthy nations ordered 800 million extra vaccine doses. Nation leaders did not know which vaccines would be effective, so they decided to order a sufficient supply of each kind. As a solution to this problem, COVAX is accepting donations of surplus vaccines and is also willing to buy the extras from nations that have ordered an excess supply. Canada is currently trying to support COVAX with its plan by developing a program that would allow nations that over-purchased vaccines to donate their extra doses to other struggling nations through COVAX. Programs like what Canada is devising benefit the whole world because if only wealthier nations are vaccinated, the virus will thrive in poorer nations and mutate, lowering the effectiveness of the current vaccine globally.
As of right now, vaccine production must be massively scaled up to reach national and international vaccination goals. On Monday, January 25, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the improvement of COVID-19 vaccination procedures in both developing and developed nations. Guterres believes that if the vaccination process is not sped up, the virus will mutate and the world will be facing an even greater global health risk. Guterres explained this additional global health risk by drawing connections to the annual flu vaccine operation, “that risk is there. See what happens with the flu? Every year, we have to have a new vaccine for the flu because, in between, the virus has mutated. Do we want the COVID to have that same situation?” The Biden administration has recognized this threat and announced that the U.S. can both ensure that every American gets vaccinated while also assisting other nations as a part of the global COVID-19 vaccination initiative.
