Distributing a COVID-19 vaccine equitably could avert hundreds of thousands of deaths
The rush among wealthy countries to lay claim to billions of doses of prospective COVID-19 vaccines could lead to hundreds of thousands more deaths than if the vaccines are distributed equitably, according to a report released today by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
That’s just one finding from the fourth annual Goalkeepers Report, which is prepared by the Gates Foundation in partnership with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). In previous years, the report has documented the steady progress the world had made toward meeting sustainable development goals laid out by the United Nations in areas ranging from educational access to hunger to gender equality. (Bill Gates on how to end this pandemic—and prepare for the next.)
This year, though, nearly all of the metrics have shown a drop in quality of life for people around the world, particularly among those who were already suffering. Most strikingly, the IHME found that the pandemic has ended 20 years of progress lifting people out of poverty and has pushed an estimated 37 million people into extreme poverty since its start early this year.
“The pandemic has, in almost every dimension, made inequity worse,” Gates said during a press conference on Thursday. The new report argues that to save the most lives and end the pandemic as quickly as possible, countries should collaborate to develop, manufacture, and distribute vaccines and treatments equitably across the globe.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/09/report-distributing-covid-vaccine-equitably-could-avert-hundreds-of-thousands-deaths/
