Differences in Covid-19 Vaccination rates between countries
One of the most crucial ways of tackling the recent Covid-19 pandemic is the production and administration of the vaccine. When we think about which countries we would assume to have the best infrastructure and ability to deliver vaccines the fastest, it would probably be those with the highest Human Development Index in the world: Norway, Ireland, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Germany. However, recent data has shown that the top 5 countries in vaccination rates per capita are not at the top of the HDI list nor are they from one specific region of the world. As of last week, the countries with the highest rate of Covid-19 vaccinations are Israel with 99 vaccines administered per 100 people, the UAE with 63, the UK with 33, the US with 26 and Serbia with 24. The reason for Israel’s high vaccination rate was that it negotiated a deal for an early and large supply of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in exchange for providing medical data to Pfizer about the impact of the vaccine. The UAE was the first country outside China to approve the Sinopharm vaccine back in early December which has allowed it to soar past its Gulf neighbors in vaccination rates. The UK negotiated special deals with AstraZeneca which ensured far greater numbers of the vaccine would be delivered to them as opposed the EU, which has sparked accusations of “vaccine nationalism” from EU leaders. Finally, Serbia was the first country to approve all 4 of the vaccines (Pfizer, Astrazeneca, Sputnik V, Sinopharm) and utilized its relationships with the US, Russia, and China to receive vaccines from multiple sources.
The first reason for the slower availability of vaccines in other countries seems to be the differences in the approval and testing process of each nation’s Healthcare system. This begs the question; is it more important to roll out the vaccine as soon as possible to halt the spread of Covid-19 or does the risk of side effects or inefficacy from the different vaccines demand more caution from those responsible for approving different therapies? Typically, vaccines need to go through many years of research and rigorous safety and efficacy testing to be approved. This process involves numerous stakeholders with conflicting interests including the pharmaceutical company, public health officials, epidemiologists, statisticians, and politicians. However, in my opinion the Covid-19 pandemic is a unique moment in history which necessitates quicker approval and acceptance of greater risk of side effects. As of today, approximately 117 million cases of the disease have been confirmed, with more than 2.61 million deaths attributed to the disease, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in recorded history. In addition to the obvious impact on global health, Covid-19 has also led to the largest global recession since the Great Depression of the early 1930s. The impact of the disease on global health and economics outweigh the risks of the common side effects that have been recorded including fatigue, headache, joint pain, and nausea. Additionally, even though some of the vaccines have proven to be less effective (~91% for the Sputnik V), it is still better to vaccinate people with it than to not vaccinate at all. The more people we have effectively vaccinated the better since it will build towards that global herd immunity threshold that we are looking to reach to prevent the spread of the disease more effectively. Revaccination for those with ineffective doses can be done further down the line through analysis of bloodwork to “fill in the gaps” for those given less than 100% effective vaccines. In my opinion, the best approach to deal with the current pandemic is to make the vaccines available as widely as possible and to continuously monitor for problems and side effects in the population that were not detected during clinical trials. Given that the mRNA technology used to develop these vaccines has been used widely for other diseases there is no reason to believe that these vaccines would have serious consequences that are currently hidden from investigators.
The second reason for the slower rollout seems to be the Covax system which has been widely blamed in many developed countries including Canada. The Covax system is a global inoculation sharing initiative which is designed to pool funds from developed countries to help buy vaccines for both themselves and for low-income nations. The idea is that developed nations will forgo some of their vaccine ability to contribute to those nations that are less well off. Personally, I think this is a better way of dealing with the pandemic since the disease is a global problem which requires a global solution. The Covax system is better than vaccine nationalism because it can ensure that vulnerable populations in every country are vaccinated first and then the less vulnerable can get their doses. The individualistic approach is of course more beneficial to the citizens of that nation but fails to take into regard our moral and ethical duties to our neighbors.
Canada Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/
UAE source:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/
UK Source:
Serbia Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/
Israel & image Source: The Covid-19 Vaccination Race. https://www.statista.com/
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