Global COVID-19 Vaccine Inequity: Failures in the First Year of Distribution and Potential Solutions for the Future
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TLDR
In the first year of distribution of vaccines against COVID-19, high-income countries (HICs) have achieved vaccination rates of 75-80%, whilst low- income countries (LICs), vaccinated <10% as mentioned in this paper .Abstract:
Within the first year of distribution of vaccines against COVID-19, high-income countries (HICs) have achieved vaccination rates of 75-80%, whilst low-income countries (LICs) vaccinated <10%. This disparity in access has been one of the greatest failures of international cooperation during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Global COVID-19 vaccine inequity affects us all, with ongoing risk of new variants emerging until global herd immunity is strengthened. The current model of global vaccine distribution is based on financial competition for limited vaccine supplies, resulting in HICs getting first access to vaccines, with LICs being forced to rely on voluntary donations through schemes like COVAX. Pharmaceutical companies own the intellectual property (IP) rights for COVID-19 vaccines, allowing them to control manufacturing, distribution, and pricing. However, the pharmaceutical industry did not develop these vaccines alone, with billions of dollars of public funding being instrumental in their discovery and development. Solutions to enable global equitable access already exist. The next step in scale up of manufacture and distribution worldwide is equitable knowledge sharing and technology transfer. The World Health Organization centralized technology transfer hub would facilitate international cooperation. Investments made into developing this infrastructure benefit the COVID-19 response whilst promoting future pandemic preparedness. Whilst globally there is majority support for waivers of IP to facilitate this next step, key opponents blocking this move include the UK and other European countries which host large domestic pharmaceutical industries. A nationalistic approach is not effective during a global pandemic. International cooperation is essential to achieve global goals against COVID-19.read more
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COVID-19 trends, public restrictions policies and vaccination status by economic ranking of countries: a longitudinal study from 110 countries
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors explored the COVID-19 trend, public restriction policies and vaccination status with economic ranking of countries, and used a longitudinal fixed-effects model to analyze the associations among the major variables.
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Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccination in Preventing All-Cause Mortality among Adults during the Third Wave of the Epidemic in Hungary: Nationwide Retrospective Cohort Study
Anita Pálinkás,János Sándor +1 more
TL;DR: The HVE-corrected general mortality for COVID-19 vaccine cohorts demonstrated the real-life effectiveness of vaccines applied in Hungary, and the usefulness of this indicator to convince vaccine hesitants.
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Negotiating a pandemic accord: a promising start
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Affordable SARS-CoV-2 protein vaccines for the pandemic endgame
TL;DR: These vaccines have saved many lives, with estimates of vaccination averting at least 1 million deaths within the USA alone, and a limitation of these vaccines is the reduced capacity to neutralise infection with the Omicron variant, in the absence of any additional booster dose after the initial vaccine course.
References
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