Health

A moral imperative

September 29, 2021

Global

EIU COVID-19 Health Funding Tracker

September 29, 2021

Global
Anelia Boshnakova

Senior information specialist, Health Policy and Clinical Evidence

Anelia is a senior information specialist and health policy analyst in the Health Policy and Clinical Evidence team. Her areas of expertise are evidence-based medicine and health policy and systems research. Before joining the EIU, Anelia worked as a senior information specialist at Bazian, and previously at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Anelia holds a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Syracuse University.

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As COVAX faces a shortfall of almost a third of the 2 billion doses it planned to deliver this year, urgent redress is needed

On 27 September 2021, based on COVID vaccination data from the project about a third of the global population was fully vaccinated (33%). The share of fully vaccinated people is the largest in Europe – 52% and North America – 47%, followed by South America – 40%, Asia – 36%, and Oceania – 31%. Only 4% of people in Africa have been fully vaccinated.

While some of these figures might look like a huge success, they are hiding the fact that most low- and lower-middle income countries are very far from reaching the to have at least 10% of their populations vaccinated by the end of September, and at least 40% by the end of 2021.

In a statement published earlier this month , announced that in 2021 would have access 1.425 billion doses of vaccine, which is almost 600 million doses short of their target. The reasons for this shortfall are “export bans, the prioritisation of bilateral deals by manufacturers and countries, ongoing challenges in scaling up production by some key producers, and delays in filing for regulatory approval.” The key milestone for delivering 2 billion doses to 92 lower income economies has been moved to the first quarter of 2022.

Last week at the hosted by the United States global leaders once again pledged further financial support, vaccine donations, and support for country readiness and delivery as well as scaling up of global manufacturing, to enable equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

Considering that so far only 300 million doses have been delivered by COVAX to 142 economies the need for urgent action couldn’t be clearer. Once again, this pandemic has demonstrated that while scientific developments can progress at “warp speed”, this is not true when thinking about global health. As Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), stated at the summit it is now imperative to “redress the central moral failing of the world’s response to the pandemic, which is the lack of equitable access to the life-saving tools we have developed.”

 

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