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The speed with which Covid-19 vaccines have been developed represents a significant achievement for humanity and is providing hope for a way out of the pandemic, but the rollout so far has been unequal: high and middle-income countries are able to secure more vaccines than they need and vaccinate populations at speed, whilst low-income countries reliant on external supplies and funding are being left behind. Vaccine deployment is exposing deep health, political, racial and economic inequalities around the world.
Inequitable distribution is not just a moral issue. It’s also economically and epidemiologically self-defeating. As long as the virus continues to circulate, new variants will continue to emerge, economies will continue to be disrupted and people will continue to die.
In order to achieve safe, effective and equitable access, vaccines need to be produced at scale, priced affordably, allocated globally, and widely deployed in local communities. We need a coordinated, cooperative international response.
So what are the challenges, and how can we rise to them? And how can we use this opportunity to create more resilient healthcare systems and strengthen our approaches to pandemic response?
Chair:
Natasha Loder, Health Policy Editor of The Economist and a presenter on the coronavirus and vaccine podcast The Jab.
Panellists:
Dr Ama Pokuaa Fenny is a Senior Research Fellow with the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economics Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana. She has researched and published in the area of developmental issues in institutional and health economics.
Dr Dushni Weerakoon is the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) and Head of its Macroeconomic Policy Research. Her research and publications cover areas related to macroeconomic policy, regional trade integration, and international economics.
Dr Mark Eccleston-Turner, Lecturer in Law at Keele University. Funded by the AHRC to investigate how a vaccine might be fairly and equitably distributed around the world. His research interests lie in the field of pandemic influenza preparedness and access to vaccines, and the law of international organizations in the context of global health.
Carlos Felipe Escobar, independent higher education consultant and coordinator at INNOS. INNOS is a joint initiative of AFIDRO and Universidad El Bosque to contribute to the national dialogue on health based on scientific knowledge and innovation, with a look to the future.
This event is produced in collaboration with the RSA and On Think Tanks.
