Booster shots expose rich-poor divide
Wealthy countries are preparing to boost the immunity of fully vaccinated citizens with an extra dose, even before vast numbers of people around the world can get their first.
Covid booster shots are in the spotlight after the head of the World Health Organization this week called for a moratorium to help poorer countries catch up. Health advocates worry that rich governments will only move further ahead, leaving many regions vulnerable and potentially allowing more worrisome variants to emerge.
About 4.3 billion doses have been administered globally so far. The problem is they haven’t been delivered equitably, in a way that protects people at highest risk across the globe. High-income countries have administered almost one dose for every person while low-income countries have only been able to give 1.5 doses for every 100 people, the WHO estimates. That gap is heightening concerns as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
“This is the Churchillian moment for the world’s leaders,” Bruce Aylward, a senior WHO adviser, said in an interview.
There are perhaps a dozen key people globally — leaders of rich countries that have amassed vaccine stockpiles or the chiefs of corporations who decide where those doses go, “but I don’t see them out there talking to their constituencies, to their boards, to their shareholders saying it’s time for us to pivot big time,” he said late last month.
Countries with ample supplies, led by the U.S., have started to increase donations, and the rollout in Africa is picking up. Meanwhile, some believe high-income governments can offer boosters domestically and increase global access at the same time. But others worry the gap will remain without radical steps and see the follow-up shots as another example of the rich putting their own interests first. Boosters also represent a huge business opportunity for vaccine makers.
A halt on boosters until at least the end of September would help achieve a goal of vaccinating at least 10% of the population in every country by that date, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
For now, countries are going ahead with their booster plans, leaving many others exposed.
“With these waves,” Aylward said, “we’re going to see more serious disease and more death in areas least equipped from a health systems perspective to be able to tackle them.”—James Paton
Track the vaccines
More than 4.37 billion doses have been administered across 180 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 42.7 million doses a day, an amount roughly equal to the population of Uganda.
Enough doses have now been administered to fully vaccinate 28.5% of the global population—but the distribution has been lopsided. Countries and regions with the highest incomes are getting vaccinated more than 20 times faster than those with the lowest. Read the full story here.
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