----- Vaccines and poverty

 

We are all excited over the prospect of safe and effective COVID19 vaccines in under a year. However, according to researchers at the Duke Global Health Innovation Center in North Carolina, Canada will have the highest vaccines per capita (5 times) than any other nation if all the different vaccines it has ordered are approved. This is nothing to be proud of, and it reeks of nationalism when international cooperation is needed more than ever to ensure equitable access to the vaccines for all. Access should be determined by risk levels of infection with priority given to health care workers and those with underlying conditions regardless of where in the world they live.

The COVAX Facility, with 64 member countries, was created exactly for this purpose. Despite the fact that Canada contributed $220 million to COVAX, there is still a USD$3 billion shortfall to reach its goal of making 2 billion COVID vaccine doses available by the end of 2021. If it fails, it essentially means poor countries will have to wait for rich countries’ leftovers. 

Stephen St. Denis

Ottawa