Three ways to vaccinate the world and make sure everyone benefits, rich and poor

As of February 25, a total of 221.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered around the world. Well over a third of these doses were in just two countries — the United States and the United Kingdom.

A study in mid-November analysed commitments to buy 7.48 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Just over half will go to the 14 per cent of the world’s population who live in high-income countries.

It’s estimated most high-income countries will achieve widespread vaccination coverage by the end of 2021. Most middle-income countries will not achieve this until mid- to late 2022, while the world’s poorest countries, including almost every country in Africa and some in our own Asia-Pacific region, will have to wait until 2023.

This