A new effort by the Duke Global Health Innovation Effort strives to map COVID-19 vaccine pre-purchases around the world.
The tool, called the Launch&Scale Speedometer, showed that high-income countries are cultivating deals that leave out low-income countries, hindering efforts for equitable global allocation. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that based on the report from Duke, high income countries have already purchased 3.8 billion doses of the vaccine, with an option for 5 billion more. People in low-income countries may not be able to access the vaccine until 2024.
At Free the Vaccine for COVID-19, we argue that vaccine nationalism, this process of high-income countries hoarding large supplies of the vaccine, will only prolong the pandemic. Efforts to ensure that the vaccine supply can reach low-income countries are increasingly crucial. The report highlights the importance of global alliances such as COVAX, a WHO effort that would help provide vaccine supplies to a large majority of the world’s population. Make sure to check out more from the tracker here!