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– While good news continues to trickle in about the coronavirus efforts in the US, including a reported deal from the Biden government holding an additional 200 million doses for Americans, things are not going so well in many parts of the world. In fact, UNICEF says 130 countries “still need to administer a single dose,” per NPR, leaving 2.5 billion people in the cold and highlighting the wide gap between rich and poorer countries. One of the factors underlying the problem is a lack of enough vaccines to go around, as well as potential problems with current vaccine candidates fighting COVID-19 variants. South Africa, for example, has focused on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine of the AstraZeneca variant – an easy-to-store, relatively inexpensive vaccine that countries with few resources rely on – because the latter proved not to be as effective in preventing COVID causes due to the B.1.351 variant that is now common in South Africa.
Drug company Moderna has already sold most of its initial vaccine supply to wealthier countries, according to the US Washington Post, and other companies are following suit, leaving poorer countries desperate for a vaccine, even those that aren’t as effective. The World Health Organization projects that these struggling countries may not have access to the vaccine until the end of 2022 or even 2023. USA Today To help those countries, WHO helped launch COVAX, a vaccination program that aims to ensure that the world’s poorer countries get 20% of their population (mainly elderly and health workers) vaccinated by the end of the year. “That way you avoid what would be … an unethical and unscrupulous business,” a South African doctor told the newspaper. And also something dangerous, Jeremy Farrar, head of the Wellcome charity, told Euronews: “Vaccinating a lot of people in a few countries, leaving the virus unchecked in many parts of the world, will lead to more variants.” (Read more stories about coronavirus vaccines.)