The gigantic global scientific efforts to develop a vaccine to mitigate the devastating impact of COVID-19 on societies have reached a point where the mass production and use of effective vaccines are a reality. But, in the subsequent race that is unfolding to produce and purchase vaccines, the gross global inequalities in the access to vaccinations, as well as in the science that makes that possible, have been exposed.
Currently, high-income countries have bought most of the doses of COVID-19 vaccines that will be produced in 2021. For example, Canada has obtained enough doses of various vaccines to vaccinate its entire population of 37.9 million people up to five times, which is at the top of the country list in terms of vaccines per capita, according to a data analysis compiled by Duke University. In comparison, according to the People's Vaccine Alliance, only one out of 10 people in nearly 70 low-income countries are likely to get vaccinated in 2021.
We raised our concerns about the vaccine and scientific inequities in a letter published on 9 December in the medical journal The Lancet. We also offer a way forward: the strengthening of the research capacity at universities in low-income countries, especially in Africa, as a moral, economic and scientific imperative.
World Trade Organization waiver
It is in this context of global scientific inequity that we should look ahead at the General Council meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) expected to take place on 17 December and consider the various arguments for and against a proposal for a waiver from certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19.
To make sure that all countries and their citizens would have equal access
