COVID-19 vaccines may not reach a quarter of the world’s population until 2022: Research

While the UK and the US have already begun the vaccination process, researchers have warned that the COVID-19 vaccinations may not reach a quarter of the world’s population until 2022. According to CNN, half of all planned doses of coronavirus vaccines have already been bought up by high-income countries, including the US, Japan and Australia. Now, while citing a report by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the researchers said that these “rich countries” have pre-ordered close to 7.5 billion doses of vaccines, enough to vaccinate 3.76 billion people. 

The researchers said, “Just over half, i.e., 51 per cent, of these doses will go to high-income countries, which represent 14 per cent of the world’s population”. 

As per reports, the United States has accounted for one-fifth of all global COVID-19 cases but it had also reserved 800 million doses of vaccine. Japan and Australia, on the other hand, accounted for fewer than one per cent of cases but had options on one billion doses. The researchers have projected that 13 major vaccine manufacturers working on the vaccine had the potential capacity for close to six billion courses of vaccine by the end of 2021. 

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They said, “Low and middle-income countries have the remainder despite these countries comprising more than 85 per cent of the world’s population”. 

They further added, “Even if all 13 of these vaccine manufacturers were to succeed in reaching their maximum production capacity, at least a fifth of the world’s population would not have access to vaccines until 2022”. 

Researchers noted that the COVIX Facility could play an important role in ensuring access to vaccines. However, they also said that its target of two billion doses by the end of 2021 is still short on premarket vaccine commitments and financing to deliver on this goal. According to the Johns Hopkins University tally, coronavirus cases worldwide stand at 73,476,721, with nearly 1,635,464 deaths. 

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African CDC berates vaccine inequality 

Meanwhile, recently African CDC also lambasted the vaccine inequality that will have poorer nations left behind. Amid a new surge in the African countries, Africa’s top public health official said in a state press conference that it will be "extremely terrible" to see wealthier nations benefit from vaccines while a continent of 1.3 billion people will only watch. Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director John Nkengasong warned that the African population might get the vaccine only in the second quarter of 2021. 

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