Unequal access to the vaccine depending on the country in which we live.

A study published Wednesday, December 16 by the medical journal BMJ warns that more than a fifth of the world's population should wait until at least 2022 to be able to be vaccinated, with half of the potential doses for 2021 having been reserved by the countries most richer.

"The operational challenge of a global vaccination program against Covid-19 will be at least as difficult to meet as the scientific challenge of their development," said an editorial in the medical journal BMJ.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (located in Baltimore, USA) analyzed vaccine pre-order figures announced by various countries around the world even before the first authorizations.

As of November 15, 7.48 billion doses have been reserved with 13 manufacturing laboratories, enabling some 3.7 billion people to be vaccinated - since most vaccines require two injections.

However, 51% of these doses were pre-ordered by rich countries, which represent only 14% of the population, according to the researchers.

Low- and middle-income countries - 85% of the world's population - will have to share what is left, they add.

Consequence according to them: "At least a fifth of the world population would not have access to vaccines before 2022."

Nearly 4 billion adults want to be vaccinated

According to these researchers, the implications could go well beyond health considerations alone.

“To varying degrees, international trade or travel could continue to be disrupted until treatments or vaccines for Covid become widely available,” they write.

Many countries have joined an alliance launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) and called Covax Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access, which negotiates with laboratories for equitable access to vaccines .

But the United States or Russia are not part of this program.

According to another study published at the same time by the journal BMJ, projections show that 3.7 billion adults around the world wish to be vaccinated against Covid-19. 

A few countries, such as the United Kingdom, the United States or Canada, have already started to vaccinate with the most advanced vaccine, that of Pfizer / BioNTech.

In Europe, its authorization could be granted around Christmas.

With AFP

The summary of the week

France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR