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PARIS (AFP) – At least a fifth of the world’s population may not have access to the Covid-19 vaccine until 2022, according to a study published on Wednesday (December 16), and the richest nations reserve more than half of potential doses next year.
In the hope that vaccines can end a pandemic that has killed an estimated 1.6 million people, countries such as the United States, Britain and the United Arab Emirates have already begun implementing immunization programs.
Eager to increase their chances of having access to at least one of the dozens of vaccines in development, many nations have acquired allocations of several different drugs.
Rich nations, which make up just 14 percent of the world’s population, have booked just over half of the vaccine doses expected to be produced by the 13 leading developers next year, researchers from the School of Public Health found. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg.
It is feared that the poorest nations will be left behind.
Even if all drug manufacturers produce safe and effective vaccines and meet their maximum global manufacturing targets, the study said that “at least a fifth of the world’s population would not have access to vaccines until 2022.”
The research, published in the medical journal BMJ, analyzed publicly available data and found that as of mid-November, reserves totaled 7.48 billion doses, which is equivalent to 3.76 billion immunization courses, because the most vaccines require two injections.
That’s outside of a projected maximum total manufacturing capacity of 5.96 billion courses by the end of 2021.
Joint purchasing scheme
The study estimated that up to 40 percent of vaccine courses from major manufacturers could be available to low- and middle-income countries, but said this would depend on how rich countries share what they have purchased.
The authors, who warned that public information was incomplete, called for “greater transparency and accountability” about supporting equitable global access.
They suggested that the implications could go far beyond health.
“To varying degrees, trade and travel to countries could face continued disruptions until access to effective preventive or treatment measures, such as Covid-19 vaccines, becomes more available,” the report said.
Many countries have joined a Covax joint purchasing mechanism, coordinated by the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness and the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, with the goal of ensuring that people across the world world have access to a Covid-19 vaccine, regardless of wealth.
The initiative expects to have two billion doses available by the end of 2021.
But neither the United States nor Russia has so far joined the program.
‘Devastating crisis’
Jason Schwartz of the Yale School of Public Health said that the United States’ participation in the coordination efforts would be “invaluable” in helping to ensure that people around the world have access to vaccines “that will ultimately help deliver an end to this devastating global health crisis. “
In a BMJ editorial, Schwartz said that the two-dose requirement and the very low temperatures needed to store some of the vaccines added to the challenges for many countries.
“The operational challenges of the global Covid-19 vaccination program will be at least as difficult as the scientific challenges associated with the rapid development of safe and effective vaccines,” he said.
The Johns Hopkins authors said vaccine prices ranged from $ 6 per course to $ 74.
They found that if all vaccines worked as expected, many wealthier nations would have already reserved at least one vaccine per person.
The researchers said Canada had ordered the equivalent of four doses per person, the United States has reserved enough for one vaccine course per person, while countries like Indonesia have reserved less than one vaccine course for every two people.
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