Elite Nations Will Have 1.2b Unused Doses By Year End

Wealthy countries face mounting pressure to divert COVID-19 vaccine supplies to lower-income regions, with a new analysis showing they’ll likely have about 1.2 billion extra doses available by the end of the year.

- James Paton

The US, Britain, European nations and others could satisfy their own needs — vaccinating about 80% of their populations over the age of 12 and moving ahead with booster programs — and still have large quantities to redistribute globally, according to London-based analytics company Airfinity Ltd.

Those governments have so far delivered a meagre amount of the supplies they’ve pledged to poorer countries as some move forward with plans for booster shots in a race to combat the delta variant. Health advocates worry that the slow pace will prolong the pandemic and increase the risk more worrisome variants will emerge. Some are also calling for more transparency on the agreements between governments and manufacturers. “There needs to be an urgent global reckoning,” said Fatima Hassan, founder and director of the Health Justice Initiative, a non-profit in Cape Town. “We need to divert doses to those in need and open all the contracts.”