OpinionWithout vaccine equity, the world can expect more Covid-19 variants and a never-ending pandemic

The world has produced enough Covid-19 vaccines for every adult, yet some 3 billion people in low-income countries are still waiting for their first dose

Such disparity could lead to an endless cycle of boosters for rich countries and new variants emerging among the unvaccinated in poorer nations

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A health worker visits a home in Piura, northern Peru, during a vaccination drive on October 18, 2021. Mutations of Covid-19 such as the Delta and Omicron variants have added new urgency to calls for wealthy nations to assist in the distribution of vaccines among poorer countries. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:30am, 21 Jan 2022

Two years into the worst pandemic in a century, it is tempting to think that the world is stuck in a time warp, unable to shake off a virus that has so far killed more than 5.5 million people and wrecked countless livelihoods.

But the truth is that in the 15 months since the Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access (Covax) facility first gained the support of the international community, much has changed.

In September 2020, we did not know whether scientists would be able to develop a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine. Now we have several. Nor did we know back then that the industry would succeed in scaling up production. But, in the event, 11 billion doses were manufactured last year.

Sadly, these successes also serve to highlight where the world has failed in its efforts to combat the pandemic. Although the world produced enough Covid-19 vaccine doses in 2021 to vaccinate every adult on the planet, more than 3 billion people, most of them living in lower-income countries, have yet to receive their first dose.

High-income countries have an average vaccination rate of over 75 per cent and are now focusing on booster programmes. In Africa, by contrast, roughly 10 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, on average, and health systems are still catching up with primary vaccinations.

Covax’s recent delivery of its one billionth Covid-19 vaccine dose represents significant progress toward increasing supply, ensuring equitable access, and thus remedying the current appalling global disparity. This milestone also shows that Covax – and multilateralism – can work, despite hoarding or restricting exports of vaccines and ingredients by some governments.