In another recent study, the difference in the availability of Covid-19 vaccines between low- and high-income countries was revealed. The inconsistency is strong because the vaccines are now being stored by high-income countries, even though the low-income ones are desperately looking for supplies.
Worldwide, 8.6 billion doses of vaccine have been purchased so far and a large part of it (4.6 billion doses or 53%) is insured by the high-income countries, a geopolitical bloc representing only 16% of the world population. Meanwhile, the share in low-income countries is only 770 million doses, according to a research study “Reducing Global COVID vaccine shortages: New Research and Recommendations for US Leadership”.
The crux of the study is to underline how the US is a good example to show how these high-income countries are accumulating medicine at the expense of lives in the developing world and poor countries.
According to the study, the US is expected to have 300 million doses of vaccines by July. It has already increased the orders it placed in February when it increased the number of vaccine doses by 200 million doses earlier. 300 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna will now be taken up.
In March, the Biden administration increased an order of 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine to 200 million doses. Vaccinations by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are given in two doses, while Johnson & Johnson’s are single dose vaccines.
In addition, it already has a stockpile of 20 million doses of vaccine against the University of Oxford, which will still receive approval in the US. Last year, the US placed an order for 300 million doses of the vaccine. Then there are another 100 million doses ordered for the Novavax vaccine, which is produced in India by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and is currently undergoing phase 3 trials.
Theoretically, therefore, 1200 doses of vaccine are ordered for a targeted population of 257 million in the US, when it can vaccinate 600 million people.
The country is currently administering two vaccines because it has suspended the use of J&J vaccine due to reports of a rare side effect of a blood clot without approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine, while Novavax is undergoing phase 3 trials . .
However, even the 600 million doses of Pfize-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are more than enough for the adult population in the US, especially if there are no major side effects.
A look at the calculations
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. population is 330 million. Of these, about 73 million are younger than 18 years. The targeted adult population that is vaccinated is thus 257 million.
US President Joe Biden recently ordered that all states be opened to all individuals over the age of 18 from April 19. In the country, almost all states have opened a vaccination for the population older than 16 years, but they need parental consent. .
According to the database website ‘Our World in Data’, the USA has so far administered 209.41 million doses of vaccines.
In terms of vaccines, 109,122,092 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 92,181,455 doses of Moderna vaccine and 7,935,549 doses of J&J vaccine were administered according to the USA Today database up to and including 18 April.
This means that more than 108 million people or 42% of the population base have already been administered COVID vaccines in the country with at least a few doses of the vaccine.
About 62 million people or 24% of the targeted population base have been completely vaccinated, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus database.
According to this calculation, the US needs a maximum of 400 doses of vaccine, including wastage of vaccines, to cover the entire targeted population. That means the country has ordered about 200 million more doses of the two dual-dose vaccines it currently uses.
It also becomes its responsibility to divert the vaccines, including the 20 million stock of AstraZeneca vaccine that has not yet been approved, but it is used in more than 70 countries, including India.
India, the largest vaccine producer in the world, also exports it to other countries that need vaccines, even though it is the second COVID boom with an exponential increase in daily cases that is currently the highest in the world.
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