Notice the vaccine divide

By Target Language Translation Services | Updated: 2021-06-11 15:51

It has been a long time since the novel coronavirus outbreak. While the successful development of COVID-19 vaccines has inspired hope that the pandemic will cease promptly, a speedy global vaccination rollout faces some obstacles. One of these obstacles is the unequal access to vaccines that developed and developing nations have, the so-called vaccine divide.

There are both supply side and demand side factors restraining the uptake of vaccines in developing nations.

Bottlenecks in vaccine production and related supply chains and export bans by some nations have restrict the overall global vaccine supply. Developing nations' low secured purchases and orders of vaccine doses further constrain their access.

On the demand side, budget restriction are a major obstruction. For the 92 low- and lower-middle-income nations supported by COVAX, a worldwide initiative to promote fair access to vaccines, vaccinating 70 percent of the population to establish herd immunity is a very high-priced undertaking.

Limited capacity for vaccine storage, distribution and administration is another pivotal constraint. Even when supplies are available, many low- and lower-middle-income nations face significant challenges in administering the vaccines because of inadequate health infrastructure and trained health workers. The public's vaccine hesitancy exacerbates these challenges, as shown by some global surveys on people's willingness to take COVID-19 vaccines.

The large vaccine divide poses a significant threat to the world's economic recovery, since the virus knows no borders. The global community should act urgently to assist low- and lower-middle-income nations to ramp up their vaccination campaigns, not only out of a sense of moral responsibility, but also because it is in every country's own interest to do so, especially in view of the continued emergence of new variants of the virus, some of which may render existing vaccines ineffective. According to recent estimates of the International Monetary Fund, closing the vaccine divide will cost the global community $50 billion, but bring $9 trillion cumulative gains in terms of avoided economic losses.

Closing the vaccine divide requires both supply- and demand-side actions.

In the immediate term, vaccine-surplus rich nations should urgently share their excess stockpiles of vaccine doses with the vaccine-deficit poorer countries through COVAX.

They should also lift any export restrictions on the vaccines and related raw materials.

As an immediate step, the global community should support COVAX's call to equip it to deliver 2 billion doses (1.8 billion of which will go to the 92 low- and lower-middle-income countries) in 2021 in both vaccine supplies and needed funding.

It should also work toward a transparent global arrangement (through the World Health Organization or G20) to make the prices of COVID-19 vaccines more affordable for the low- and lower-middle-income nations).

Low- and lower-middle-income nations should mobilize all their available financial, institutional and health sector resources to address demand-side constraints, including putting in place necessary logistics for vaccine storage, distribution and administration.

They should also address vaccine hesitancy through effective awareness campaigns to inform the public of the importance, efficacy and safety of the vaccines, especially in rural areas, using updated technologies such as localized targeted messaging through mobile devices and social media.

As many believe the virus is likely to be around for some time, paying for vaccination drives will not be one-off spending. Closing the vaccine divide also requires longer-term solutions. The global community should pitch in for a greater role of the global initiative, COVAX, by helping increase its vaccination target from the original 20 percent of the populations in low- and lower-middle-income countries to 50 percent, with more funding support from public and private donors.

It should also help to build developing countries' capacity to manufacture safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. Reaching a global agreement on a temporary waiver of the vaccines' intellectual property rights will be a significant step in this regard. Voluntary licensing and technology transfers will also go a long way. Ample supply will bring down vaccine prices.

Developing nations, especially low-and lower-middle-income nations, on the other hand, should scale up investments in infrastructure and capacity for vaccine distribution and administration, in broad public health systems, with the support of bilateral donors and multilateral development banks.

At the G20 Leaders' Global Health Summit and World Health Assembly held in May and the World Vaccine Conference in June, governments were united in recognizing the urgency of closing the vaccine divide. The time to translate words into more action is now.

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