Publication:

Vaccine equity: a key to global economic recovery

Background The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus- 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), has resulted in an unprecedented global public health and economic crisis. The cumulative number of cases is now over 200 million and the number of deaths exceeds 4.2 million. COVID-19 vaccination provides hope for an end to the pandemic, if and only if there would be equal access and optimal uptake in all countries around the world.

Methods The study on nine selected countries corroborates the relative importance of vaccination rate in reducing daily death as percentage of confirmed COVID- 19 cases.

Results Vaccination data has brought forth the gaping disparity in the process whereby lower income group countries with 8.6 percent of world population have received 0.3 percent of total vaccine dose as against high income countries with 15.7 percent of global population and have received 29.0.

Conclusions Spending for vaccination should be considered as an investment instead of expenditure.