20 Million Lives Saved, 600,000 Lost
Inequality is just as deadly as COVID-19. (Photo: Reuters)
COVID-19’s high transmissibility has made it one of the biggest recorded pandemics, consequently triggering the biggest vaccination campaign in human history. As of June 30, 2022, more than 12.1 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across 184 countries.
Roughly 13.9 million doses of the vaccine are given each day—that’s 154 shots for every 100 people worldwide. As we entered the new year, things were really starting to look up. While the virus was evolving to be more contagious, it was also becoming less deadly. Vaccines were working and treatments were advancing.
In countries with exceptionally high vaccination rates, the death toll was plummeting. In the European Union, for instance, the survival rate was 11 times higher than it was the year before. At the time, vaccines reduced the chance of hospitalization and death for those infected with Omicron by more than 90%.
In fact, vaccines have worked so well that a new study shows that about 20 million lives have been saved in the first year of the vaccine rollout. The same study estimates that about three times as many people would have died without the vaccine in 2021 alone. The number of deaths was found to be 63% lower than it could have been without vaccination.
Syringe half empty
While it’s all well and good that the vaccine has saved tens of millions of lives, we still could have done better.
In 2021, the World Health Organization made it their goal to vaccinate 40% of the population of every country by the end of 2021. Unfortunately, especially in the world’s poorest countries, this goal was not met. Researchers estimate that if WHO had reached this target, about 600,000 lives could have been saved.
And who’s to blame for this? The world’s richest countries, of course.
At this year’s G7 Summit, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States pledged to donate 870 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to poorer countries. As of June 2022, less than half (49%) have been delivered.
The UK has given only 39% of what they pledged, and Canada has donated only 30%. While these countries are the worst offenders, the other five haven’t done too well either. The US has only given 46% of their pledge. France, Germany, and Italy have collectively delivered 56% of the doses they promised, and Japan has given 64%.
Not only have these countries failed to deliver on their promise, they’ve also been caught hoarding COVID-19 vaccines. Meanwhile, studies are showing that COVID-19 is four times deadlier in low income countries. Not only that, inequality became exponentially worse over the past few years, directly caused by the pandemic. Meanwhile, new billionaires are made every day as they profit from vaccines, treatments, tests, and protective equipment.
Millions are dying, and COVID-19 might not be the only thing killing them. The sad truth is that incompetence, apathy, and inequality might be far deadlier than COVID.
