Letter: Vaccinate the world

Can you imagine what it feels like knowing that there is a vaccine against Covid, yet you have no access to them? Can you imagine what it feels like to run a vaccine programme with insufficient supplies of syringes, needles and cotton wool? No fridges, intermittent electricity?

Can you imagine what it feels like to turn away a man who sacrificed work and food that day for his family, to walk five hours to a clinic, only to be told there were no doses that day? Or travelling for hours on bumpy roads to deliver doses in remote areas?

Can you imagine trying to decide how to deliver vaccines in these circumstances – with a two-week expiry date? Or continuing to treat Covid patients while you remain unvaccinated, despite the existence of a vaccine? Or even having to stop lifesaving treatment for malaria, HIV, AIDS and childhood malnutrition so that you can deliver a vaccine programme?

This is the reality in the global South.

To bring the pandemic to an end, it is imperative that a large proportion of the global population are vaccinated. The challenge now is to make the vaccines available to all. Currently, more booster vaccines have been delivered in rich countries than the total number of vaccines so far in poorer countries. Only 10% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose (our world in data stats).

In the UK, 77% of the population have been vaccinated, but in Nigeria it is just 7%. 92 countries missed a vital WHO target to vaccinate 40% of their populations by the end of 2021 – the target of 70% coverage in each country by mid-2022 risks being missed if urgent action isn’t taken. In fact, if we now consider three vaccines a necessity, then <1% of the global South are protected against Covid.

It’s in our own self-interest to ensure that this happens as the risk to our own vaccine programme from the emergence of new variants is not insignificant. But, more importantly, this is a moral issue.

Covid doesn’t respect borders, but it does target the vulnerable, sick and poor.

Despite the rhetoric, the UK Government isn’t providing its fair share of funding by GDP.  Not all pledged doses have arrived in Africa, and many of those that have are close to expiry. To end the pandemic, we must ensure equitable global access to vaccines, along with tests, treatments and PPE.

The UK Government has spent £370bn on its domestic response to Covid, and now its being asked for just £720m for its ‘fair share’.

A partnership of grassroots healthcare professionals, senior NHS leaders and national organisations have formed the #VaccinateTheWorld campaign. They are petitioning the Government to support the efforts of ACT-Accelerator, including its COVAX vaccines pillar, to deliver on its current commitments and to step up its efforts.

We all remember the joyful feeling of giving that first Covid vaccine – let’s avoid remembering a catastrophic moral and global health security failure.

So, what can you do?

Simple – sign the petition

Share with everyone – family, friends, and colleagues, as we need more signatures!

Follow us on Twitter

Write to your MP – template letter here

We’re not safe until we’re all safe.

Dr Katherine Brown and Dr David Attwood are GPs in Cornwall and Devon