Key TakeawaysThe WHO and several other organizations have banded together to promote vaccine equity.The resulting initiative, COVAX, aims to provide low- to middle-income countries with vaccine doses, in many cases free of charge. Almost 200 countries have already pledged to support COVAX’s mission.Healthcare workers and high-risk individuals will be prioritized. The first shipments of doses were issued in late February.
Key Takeaways
The WHO and several other organizations have banded together to promote vaccine equity.The resulting initiative, COVAX, aims to provide low- to middle-income countries with vaccine doses, in many cases free of charge. Almost 200 countries have already pledged to support COVAX’s mission.Healthcare workers and high-risk individuals will be prioritized. The first shipments of doses were issued in late February.
In an effort to keep vaccine distribution and administration efforts from fracturing along socioeconomic lines, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on its members to work together to ensure that healthcare workers and high-risk individuals in every country have access to a vaccine within the first 100 days of 2021.
To achieve this objective, the WHO issued a Vaccine Equity Declaration (VED) and partnered with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the Vaccine Alliance to spearhead the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative.
In “an interconnected world, no one is safe until everyone is,”WHO spokespersonTarik Jašarević tells Verywell.
In the race to achieve widespread immunity to COVID-19, poorer countries are falling behind richer countries as the latter leverage their considerable social, political, and economic power to secure doses and cut deals with pharmaceutical companies. In practice, this means that billions of people worldwide—90% of the population of 67 nations—stand little to no chance of vaccination in 2021, according toThe British Medical Journal.
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What This Means For YouIncreasing vaccine access and reaching herd immunity globally is important for curbing the COVID-19 pandemic. If you live in one of the 92 countries that are eligible for COVAX shipments, you can expect to be vaccinated earlier than initially planned.
What This Means For You
Increasing vaccine access and reaching herd immunity globally is important for curbing the COVID-19 pandemic. If you live in one of the 92 countries that are eligible for COVAX shipments, you can expect to be vaccinated earlier than initially planned.
COVAX Rollout
“In Phase One of the allocation from the COVAX Facility, all countries will receive an initial tranche of doses until they cover 3% of the population," Jašarević says. “This will allow for the vaccination of the highest priority populations; additional tranches will follow gradually as more supply becomes available until 20% of the population is covered (to allow for the vaccination of most of the at-risk groups in countries).”
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Per the terms of the VED, healthcare workers and high-risk individuals such as older adults and people with underlying conditions will receive priority. The VED does not specify what demographics come next, but, Jašarević says, countries will “have discretion on how to use their allocated doses based upon their own epidemiologic situation and guidance from national policymaking bodies'' once the 20% target has been met.
Barriers to the Program
As with any ambitious, large-scale project, COVAX faces significant financial and logistical barriers to success. The initiative is seeking $2.8 billion on top of the $6 billion it has already raised to fund further research, development, and acquisition efforts, and its main distributor, the UN Children’s Fund, is scrambling to meet demand.
The U.S.has donated$2 billion to COVAX and pledges to donate another $2 billion over the next two years.
The “free market…limits the ability of COVAX to achieve its goal of equitably allocating vaccines, for the COVAX regime does not have a monopoly on allocating all vaccines," Chi says. “What we need is a global governing body on the global public goods that monopolize the allocation of those public goods (such as vaccines and critical drugs for the pandemic), and also restrict the individual company’s sale.”
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“Global equitable access to a vaccine, particularly protecting health care workers and those most-at-risk is the only way to mitigate the public health and economic impact of the pandemic,” theWHO writes.
The information in this article is current as of the date listed, which means newer information may be available when you read this. For the most recent updates on COVID-19, visit ourcoronavirus news page.
5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.World Health Organization.Call to Action: Vaccine Equity Declaration. Updated January 18, 2021.World Health Organization.World waking up to vaccine equity. February 19, 2021.Dyer O.COVID-19: many poor countries will see almost no vaccine next year, aid groups warn.Br Med J. 2020. doi:10.1136/bmj.m4809World Health Organization.COVAX Announces Additional Deals to Access Promising COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates; Plans Global Rollout Starting Q1 2021. December 18, 2020.World Health Organization.First COVID-19 COVAX Vaccine Doses Administered in Africa. March 1, 2021.
5 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.World Health Organization.Call to Action: Vaccine Equity Declaration. Updated January 18, 2021.World Health Organization.World waking up to vaccine equity. February 19, 2021.Dyer O.COVID-19: many poor countries will see almost no vaccine next year, aid groups warn.Br Med J. 2020. doi:10.1136/bmj.m4809World Health Organization.COVAX Announces Additional Deals to Access Promising COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates; Plans Global Rollout Starting Q1 2021. December 18, 2020.World Health Organization.First COVID-19 COVAX Vaccine Doses Administered in Africa. March 1, 2021.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
World Health Organization.Call to Action: Vaccine Equity Declaration. Updated January 18, 2021.World Health Organization.World waking up to vaccine equity. February 19, 2021.Dyer O.COVID-19: many poor countries will see almost no vaccine next year, aid groups warn.Br Med J. 2020. doi:10.1136/bmj.m4809World Health Organization.COVAX Announces Additional Deals to Access Promising COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates; Plans Global Rollout Starting Q1 2021. December 18, 2020.World Health Organization.First COVID-19 COVAX Vaccine Doses Administered in Africa. March 1, 2021.
World Health Organization.Call to Action: Vaccine Equity Declaration. Updated January 18, 2021.
World Health Organization.World waking up to vaccine equity. February 19, 2021.
Dyer O.COVID-19: many poor countries will see almost no vaccine next year, aid groups warn.Br Med J. 2020. doi:10.1136/bmj.m4809
World Health Organization.COVAX Announces Additional Deals to Access Promising COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates; Plans Global Rollout Starting Q1 2021. December 18, 2020.
World Health Organization.First COVID-19 COVAX Vaccine Doses Administered in Africa. March 1, 2021.
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