Impact of COVAX?

The concern for the high vaccine disparity led to the establishment of COVAX, an initiative tasked with ensuring equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines as directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organization. The establishment of COVAX was welcomed and acted as a beacon of hope for countries facing the disparity in vaccine distribution. The existence of COVAX could be one of the leading reasons why low-income nations could initiate vaccination within a few months since the first global vaccine administration as shown in the table below.

By December 31, 2020, 29 countries initiated vaccine administration, and those countries were not the top 29 wealthiest countries. The 29 countries that launched the vaccination program include Mexico and Bulgaria, ranked 71 and 72 in GDP per capita among the 194 countries in the dataset. At the same time, Ireland and the Netherlands, the sixth and seventeenth wealthiest countries, and Qatar and Macao, the first and second wealthiest countries based on GDP per capita, were not one of the 29 countries.

The number of countries that started vaccinating their people has increased rapidly, as shown in the second column of the table above. Close to 100 countries rolled out the vaccination program by the end of February 2021, and a total of 181 countries initiated COVID-19 vaccine administration by the end of May 2021. The 181 countries include the Central African Republic, Liberia, and the Congo, and they are low-income countries with a GDP per capita of less than $1,000. This data indicates that most countries, including low-income countries, could initiate vaccination within a half year after the first vaccination in the United Kingdom in December 2020.