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(Journalist)
– As good news continues to pour in on coronavirus control efforts in the United States, including a deal announced by the Biden administration that caught an additional 200 million doses for Americans, things are not moving forward as well in many parts of the world. In fact, UNICEF says 130 countries have “not yet administered a single dose,” per RNP, leaving 2.5 billion people out in the cold and underscoring the large gap between rich and poor countries. Some of the factors underlying the problem are the lack of sufficient vaccines for everyone, as well as possible problems with current candidate vaccines in the fight against COVID-19 variants. South Africa, for example, turned to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine of the AstraZeneca variety – an easy-to-store and relatively inexpensive vaccine that low-resource countries expected to use – because the latter was found to be less expensive. effective in preventing COVID caused by the B.1.351 variant now prevalent in South Africa.
Drugmaker Moderna has already sold most of its initial vaccine supply to wealthier countries, according to the Washington post, and other companies are following suit, leaving the poorest countries desperate for any vaccine, even those that are not as effective. The World Health Organization predicts that these struggling countries may not have broad access to the vaccine until the end of 2022 or even 2023, for example. USA today. To help these countries, WHO helped launch COVAX, an immunization program that attempts to ensure that the world’s poorest countries receive 20% of their population (mostly older people and health workers) immunized from here the end of the year. “That way you avoid what … would be an unethical and unacceptable thing,” a South African doctor told the newspaper. And also a dangerous thing, Jeremy Farrar, head of the Wellcome association, told Euronews: “Vaccinating a lot of people in a few countries, leaving the virus unchecked in large parts of the world, will lead to the emergence of new variants. ” (Read more stories about coronavirus vaccines.)
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