NEW: As of June 1, 38.5% of all COVID vaccine doses had gone to just 16% of the world's population, according to an ABC News' analysis. Read more about the challenges of access and equity in the effort to inoculate the world against COVID:
Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said it’s to be expected that countries prioritize vaccinating their own people. “We knew there was going to be a different timescale for vaccine distribution throughout the world,” he said. The U.S. was particularly pro-active with funding towards vaccine development, through Operation Warp Speed, and pre-purchase agreements.
“There is no diplomatic way to say it: a small group of countries that make and buy the majority of the world’s vaccines control the fate of the rest of the world,” Tedros said in an opening speech at the organization's annual World Health Assembly on May 24.
Otherwise, “you could have a new variant spring up that could evade the protection of our current vaccines the longer the pandemic continues,” Schaffner said.: Seniors queue for the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccination outside a tent while nurses conduct their duties at a local hospital on March 29, 2021, in Harare, Zimbabwe.
COVAX, a multibillion-dollar WHO-backed program, was created to help lower-income countries obtain vaccines and provide equity in distribution. The aim is to prioritize vaccinations of front-line health care workers and pool a supply of vaccines. It’s a recognition of the need for an international mechanism to get vaccines to the developing world and deal with the current pandemic and future health crises, Dr. Adalja said.
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