New vaccines for COVID-19 have been developed with unprecedented speed—thanks to unprecedented investments from governments, foundations, and pharmaceutical companies. These shots can help bring the pandemic under control, but only if they get to the places where they're most needed.
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we are all in this together. No one will be safe from the coronavirus until everyone is safe. Right now, we're seeing highly infectious new variants of the virus spreading in many low- and middle-income countries, most of which are still struggling to get access to vaccines. Meanwhile, some of the world's richest countries, including the United States, have purchased hundreds of millions more doses than they need to inoculate their populations.
“Vaccinating people in the US alone won’t end this pandemic. The longer it takes to vaccinate people across the globe, the greater the risk to us all as new variants take hold,” said Dr. Carrie Teicher, director of programs at MSF-USA. “The US government has a historic opportunity to help end this pandemic everywhere by transferring its surplus doses to countries that urgently need them.”
MSF is advocating for global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and other medical tools. Together we can change this map.
Source: The Economist, May 21, 2021
