The major herbal the world must overcome in order to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control is figuring out how to vaccinate enough of the with the goal of herd immunity. But with a population closely approaching eight billion, thorough vaccine distribution is a daunting task of unprecedented proportions.
With the creation of COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access), an international effort to support the research, development, and manufacturing of a variety of COVID-19 vaccines and negotiate their pricing, the world has taken a large step toward the unity necessary to combat this pandemic. More than 90 percent of the global population is affiliated with the program. COVAX’s goal is ambitious, shooting for two billion available doses by the end of 2021, roughly enough to protect high risk people and frontline healthcare workers.
COVAX has and will continue to face a host of challenges which could potentially slow global vaccine distribution. With 1.1 billion doses purchased to date, it ended 2020 with a funding gap of $755 million and faces a gap of $6.4 billion in 2021. Additionally, conflicting regional agreements to obtain vaccine doses and differing regulations across the board have made it difficult to ensure efficient implementation.
The real problem lies in vaccine distribution inequality, which exists regardless of COVAX’s efforts to combat it. More than 1.08 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, but the vast majority of those administrations occurred in high-income countries. Currently, high-income countries have enough vaccine doses to cover more than twice their adult populations, while low- and middle-income countries only have enough to reach approximately one-third of their populations.
Problematically, to ensure enough worldwide immunity to successfully combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus, vaccine distribution needs to occur in low-income countries just as much as high-income ones. But even if somehow all COVAX doses were provided to low- and middle-income countries, it would still be well below their share of the global adult population and well below the number of doses required to reach a stable level of immunity. When vaccines first became viable last year, high-income countries were able to make deals directly with vaccine producers while low- and middle-income countries were essentially left in the dust as they struggled to deal with the infectious crisis.
While countries including France, Norway, the U.K., and the U.S. have expressed intent to donate some of their excess doses, this will likely be a very drawn-out process as they still prioritize vaccinating members of their own population first. A large part of COVAX’s mission relies on vaccine candidates, many of which are still in research and clinical trial phases and will likely not see use for some time.
Vaccine inequality only exacerbates the gap between richer and poorer countries as the countries with higher vaccinated proportions of their populations are able to resume economic activity at a faster rate. This means that time is of the essence as the world rushes to get back to normal.
In order for the COVID-19 vaccine to have the most effective results, the majority of the population needs to get their vaccinations. However, despite being available for everyone over the age of 16 in the United States, access to vaccinations is not equal across the board. When analyzing the overall data, there are some notable disparities in the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated that an important goal is to achieve vaccine equality. Reaching high vaccination rates amongst each and every community is a key piece in achieving broader population immunity.
As of April 26, 2021 the CDC reported that the race/ethnicity was known for only approximately 55 percent of all people who had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. This, of course, means that the statistics and data presented will not be extremely accurate, but should provide a general idea of the racial disparities found in the current rollout of the vaccine.
Amongst this data includes the numbers to conclude that Black and Hispanic people have been receiving smaller shares of vaccinations compared to their shares of COVID-19 cases and deaths as well in comparison to their total population in the respective states. There are some states that show significant data to support the claim that there are important disparities. For example, in the state of Colorado, the Hispanic population makes up about 42 percent of COVID-19 cases and 25 percent of COVID-related deaths. However, they have only received 10 percent of the state’s total vaccinations. The gaps in these numbers differ across different states. There are only a few states where the population percentage is even close to the vaccinated populations of different minorities, but the number does appear to be growing. An example of this can be found in the state of Oregon. In Oregon, the Black population makes up 3 percent of the state’s COVID-19 cases, 2 percent of the deaths, as well as 2 percent of the population of Oregon. With all of this considered, it makes sense that the vaccinated population in Oregon consists of 2 percent Black people. A similar situation can be found in Virginia. Trends like these have been consistent for the past multiple weeks. The data also found that the share of vaccinations among Asian people was similar to or higher than the percentage of cases and deaths that their community takes up. However, in some states, the percentage was lower. In general, the White population has received a higher share of the COVID-19 vaccinations in comparison to their share of cases, deaths, and percentage of their respective state’s total population. An example of this can be found again in Colorado, where 81 percent of the vaccinations were given to white people. For comparison, the white population only makes up 68 percent of the total population of Colorado.
The statistics displayed that in the 43 states that data was gathered in, White people consisted of 38 percent of the total of people who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. This is 1.6 times higher than the rate for Black people, which was 24 percent. Similarly, the White percentage is 1.5 times higher than that of Hispanic people. The percentage of Hispanic people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine was 25 percent. This data was taken on April 26, 2021. The racial disparities amongst both Black and Hispanic people continue to grow, and something must be done to make things right. The only way we can truly fight this pandemic is if the majority of the population receives their vaccine.
Although COVID cases may be declining in certain countries, the challenge is far from over for the rest of the world. Wealthier nations like the United States, having made direct deals with the makers of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, are on track to have a far larger percent of the population fully vaccinated unlike that of poorer countries. Our World in Data estimates that around 48 percent of the vaccine doses produced have gone to 16 percent of the world’s population, those of whom belong to higher income countries (Washington Post). These nations have been repeatedly criticized for hoarding vaccine doses, a possibly legitimate claim seeing as the US government has given around 1.2 billion dollars to the manufacturers of the AstraZeneca vaccine, one that hasn’t even been approved for use in the United States as of now.
The making of private deals with the developers of vaccines by countries such as these placed them in the front for vaccine distribution and left developing nations aside. By aiding such companies through financial means and allowing them to pursue research and development at a faster pace, they were prioritized for shares of the vaccine. Tellingly, the BMJ estimated that around 96 percent of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines had been claimed by specific countries such as the US, UK, and nations in the EU by January 2021 (Vox). With these numbers and the additional export restrictions put into place by the same countries, it is evident that there is a significant disparity in the supply of vaccinations globally.
However, as of late April 2021, due to an increase in pressure on the Biden Administration, the US finally took a step that other wealthy nations must follow if desiring global recovery, with its decision to provide India with items such as rapid diagnostic kits and ventilators as well as lift the current export restrictions. The aiding of poorer countries in the race for vaccinations was initially intended to be handled by the WHO’s Covax program, one that was agreed to by more than 190 countries. Through the private deals made with vaccine manufacturers, the ability to create a global market for the selected companies in Covax’s portfolio, and therefore lower prices for developing countries for the selected companies, was lessened greatly. Due to additional complications and occurrences such as this, only 38 million out of the proposed 100 million doses were sent to nations in Asia, Latin America, and Africa in March 2021.
To add to this, Covax’s dependency on India and the Serum Institute of India was dangerous, placing the responsibility of delivering vaccinations to a third of the population in poorer countries onto a singular company. However, India’s dangerous and tragic spike in COVID-19 cases in late April due to the new variant and issues in public health management has been an important eye-opener for the world, showing countries rich and poor the detriments of vaccine distribution inequality and the extremely possible danger of an introduction of new COVID-19 variants to the world. With quickly diminishing supplies and an ever-increasing death toll, India’s priorities in terms of vaccine production had to shift inwards, causing a chain reaction that might again intensify the inequality of global vaccine distribution.
Should the virus and its variants in poorer nations continue to spread, many other nations face critical risks to citizen health, particularly if they need supplies or healthcare personnel. Wealthier nations must take global health seriously by donating extra doses of vaccinations, supplying technology, or investing toward lower-income nations. Ultimately, countries must continue to work towards the shared goal of returning the world to its original state. COVID-19 remains a crisis in which borders have no place.
Sources:
https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/covax-explained
https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/covax-and-the-united-states/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-vaccinations-tracker.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/coronavirus-vaccine-inequality-global/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/05/us/vaccine-racial-disparities.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/25/world/us-vaccines-india-covid.html
https://www.vox.com/2021/4/28/22405279/covid-19-vaccine-india-covax
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-56698854
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/29/india/india-covid-crisis-world-problem/index.html