Early within the Covid-19 pandemic, lots of the world’s richest international locations poured cash into the race for a vaccine. Billions of {do
Early within the Covid-19 pandemic, lots of the world’s richest international locations poured cash into the race for a vaccine. Billions of {dollars}, from applications just like the US’s Operation Warp Pace, funded improvement that introduced us a number of Covid-19 vaccines in document time. But it surely additionally decided the place these vaccines would go. Earlier than vaccine doses had even hit the market, locations just like the US and the UK had purchased up almost the complete provide.
This seems to be an previous story. In almost each trendy international well being disaster, from smallpox to malaria to H1N1, wealthy international locations have purchased up important medical provides, making poor international locations wait generally many years for lifesaving assist. It’s successfully a system wherein the place you reside determines whether or not you reside or die of a preventable illness.
Leaving a illness like Covid-19 to unfold unchecked in some locations additionally provides it an opportunity to mutate — and variants of the virus are already elevating alarms. So how can we get vaccines to international locations that may’t afford them?
One resolution underway is named Covax. It’s a program co-led by the World Well being Group, Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance), and the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Improvements (CEPI). Its purpose is to get vaccines to lower- and middle-income international locations concurrently high-income international locations. So how is it supposed to do this? And can it’s sufficient?
Take a look at the complete article by Julia Belluz. You’ll find this video and all of Vox’s movies on YouTube.