6 February 2021 | New Scientist | 21MI
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MAGINE if, when a pandemic
swept across the globe,
scientists responded quickly
to develop effective vaccines only
for a small number of wealthy
countries to buy up almost the
entire global supply, leaving
virtually none for the rest of
the world. That is precisely
what happened in 2009 with
the H1N1 flu pandemic. We
must not allow it to happen
again with covid-19.
In some ways we got lucky
with H1N1: the virus became less
virulent over time and vaccine
supplies eventually increased
enough to be included in the
seasonal flu shot, enabling more
people to get access. The jury is
still out on whether something
similar will happen with the
coronavirus, but, either way, a
return to normality will continue
to elude us until people in all
countries are protected.
Thankfully, we now have several
vaccines, so to end this crisis there
must be rapid, fair and equitable
access to them, particularly for
those people living in the world’s
poorest countries, which are most
in danger of missing out.
This is the goal of the global
vaccine coalition COVAX. Along
with my colleagues at Gavi,
the Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations and
the World Health Organization,
we are working hard to make
sure that covid-19 vaccines don’t
just end up going to the highest
bidder. With 190 governments
and economies involved,The columnist
Chanda Prescod-
Weinstein on taps
and the cosmos p22Letters
We must rethink the
delay in second shot
for health staff p24Aperture
A stunning depiction
of a tree drawn by
nature in a lake p28Culture
Reimagining the dig
that found an Anglo-
Saxon burial ship p30Culture columnist
The Mandalorian is
to be savoured, says
Bethan Ackerley p32representing 90 per cent of the
global population, we are now on
the cusp of beginning vaccination.
This month, the first of more
than 2 billion doses will start to be
rolled out to high-risk individuals
in 92 lower-income countries. For
people in these countries to get
new vaccines within a matter of
weeks of those in the wealthiest
nations is simply unprecedented.
However, challenges still remain.
Despite working together
with COVAX, governmentsare under immense pressure to
secure doses for all their citizens.
This means countries are still
seeking bilateral deals with
vaccine manufacturers, and these
risk placing additional constraints
on supplies at a time when they
will be most limited. We are
already seeing the consequences
of this with supply shortfalls in
many countries.
If governments continue with
this kind of vaccine nationalism
and if manufacturers only offercovid-19 vaccines to the highest
bidders, just like in 2009, this
will only prolong the crisis. Even
if doses are promised to every
country further down the line,
delaying the availability of doses
around the world will allow the
coronavirus to continue to
circulate, mutate and potentially
adapt better to the human host.
That works against everyone’s
best interests.
While COVAX was created
with the world’s poorest people
in mind, it works to everyone’s
benefit. For the lowest-income
nations, which would otherwise
be unable to afford these vaccines,
COVAX is quite literally a lifeline
and the only viable way in which
their citizens will get access to
covid-19 vaccines.
However, there are also many
upper-middle-income nations
that can afford to pay for their
vaccines yet lack the resources
to secure doses for their citizens
through bilateral deals with
manufacturers. And for those
35 or so governments that are
wealthy enough to secure bilateral
deals, it acts like an insurance
policy, guaranteeing them doses
if those deals should fail, but also
protecting their citizens through
vaccinating others. In a global
pandemic, you are only safe if
everyone is safe. ❚Vaccines for all
The fastest way to end the covid-19 crisis is for countries to put
the interests of the world ahead of their own, says Seth BerkleySeth Berkley is
CEO of Gavi, the
Vaccine Alliance