Access to and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccine in low-income countries

The ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 still poses significant health challenges globally. The Harvard group’s models predict that a resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 could occur as late as 2024 after a period of apparent elimination, if the duration of immunity is intermediate and if other corona viruses induce intermediate cross-immunity 1 . Among more than 60 vaccine candidates in clinical trials, currently, only the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna COVID-19, and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for active immunization to prevent COVID-19 from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 2 , 3 , 4 . The Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has additionally received approval in the European countries, India, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Pakistan, Nepal, and others 5 . For emergency use, other vaccines like Sputnik V, BBIBP-CorV, CoronaVac, Ad5-nCoV, EpiVacCorona, and BBV152 have been approved in many countries in the world 6 . The approval of the vaccines has created some degree of confidence, and many countries have begun administering them. However, the accessibility of the vaccines to low-income countries (LICs) may be hindered, and thus, many concerned authorities have been questioned. It is because most of the vaccines have been reported to be reserved by wealthy nations 6 , 7 . These issues are extensively reviewed by the Lancet Commission on COVID-19 Vaccines and Therapeutics Task Force Members 8 .