Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images
High-income countries have purchased more than half of the Covid-19 vaccine supply to date, and low-income countries, just 9 percent, according to Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Center. This is why a country like the US is close to vaccinating half its population with one dose while the rate in a place like Guinea is less than 1 percent and not budging.
Our World In Data
If these glaring inequities in vaccine access continue, it will take at least two years for the world’s poorest countries, which couldn’t afford to compete for early doses of vaccines, to immunize the majority of their populations. And we’re on track for a long period where people in rich countries enjoy the benefits and safety of being fully immunized, while people in poorer countries continue to get sick and die from the coronavirus.
India is in the throes of a deadly, record-breaking wave of coronavirus infections.
More than 200,000 people have died of COVID-19, making India the fourth country to cross that grim fatality count after the United States, Brazil, and Mexico. The government has also reported more than 360,000 cases in the last 24 hours, a new global record, which comes after a five-day streak of the highest single-day increases in new COVID-19 infections of any country. (Still, some experts fear that the reported numbers severely undercount the reality of both the country s active cases and death toll.)
As more and more people contract the deadly virus, the surge is also overwhelming India s health care system, with hospitals scrambling for oxygen supplies and emergency aid. Worse, the outbreak so far is showing no signs of slowing down.
What to Know About India s Deadly Second Wave of COVID-19 Cases seventeen.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from seventeen.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SAM PANTHAKYGetty Images
India is in the throes of a deadly, record-breaking wave of coronavirus infections.
More than 200,000 people have died of COVID-19, making India the fourth country to cross that grim fatality count after the United States, Brazil, and Mexico. The government has also reported more than 360,000 cases in the last 24 hours, a new global record, which comes after a five-day streak of the highest single-day increases in new COVID-19 infections of any country. (Still, some experts fear that the reported numbers severely undercount the reality of both the country s active cases and death toll.)
As more and more people contract the deadly virus, the surge is also overwhelming India s health care system, with hospitals scrambling for oxygen supplies and emergency aid. Worse, the outbreak so far is showing no signs of slowing down.
These countries ordered most vaccine, but many aren t using it quickly
By lovemoney staff of Lovemoney |
Countries buying up the most vaccine
Many countries have acknowledged the importance of donating vaccine doses in the global fight against COVID-19, and just this week America announced it is giving 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine supply to other countries. In fact, the World Health Organization s COVAX initiative was created to try to make sure that vaccines are being distributed fairly among rich and poor countries, and it plans to distribute two billion vaccine doses within a year. But the creation of COVAX hasn t eliminated inequalities in vaccine access, as richer countries have been able to buy more doses than others, and several nations have even bought enough to vaccinate their populations several times over. However, some of these countries aren t vaccinating their countries very quickly.