China's ambassador Zhao Jiangping and Burundi's Health Minister Dr Thaddee Ndikumana mark the arrival of the first Covid-19 vaccines to Burundi on October 14. Photo / Berthier Mugiraneza, AP
EDITORIAL
Sometimes in this knock-down, drag-out fight with Covid in our corner of the world, it's easy to overlook the global situation.
But it can be heartening to take a look.
The US recently promised to give 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to poorer nations from next year - adding to 587.5 million doses already donated and bringing a total pledge to more than one billion.
The BBC reports the donation will go through Covax - an international scheme set up to ensure low-income countries aren't left behind. More than 303 million doses have so far been shipped to 142 countries, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia and Fiji.
Covax contributors include the US, UK, Canada, Japan, Australia, the UAE, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Portugal and, yes, New Zealand. These countries have pledged to donate both money and surplus doses. Aotearoa has so far donated 889,953 doses to Fiji, about half of what it has pledged.
The need is enormous. The world's largest children's charity, Unicef, is expected to lead the global delivery of billions of Covid-19 vaccines for a total of 92 low and lower middle-income countries.
It's not just Covax that has been handing out the vaccine. China has pledged to donate 100 million doses to developing countries, with Pakistan already receiving 4 million and Cambodia 3 million.
It hasn't been all smooth sailing. Early vaccination targets were missed when recipient nations didn't have the necessary infrastructure to roll out the doses as well as hitting some vaccine hesitancy in populations.
And so far the donations haven't gone anywhere near balancing global inequity. To date, 82 per cent of all doses worldwide have been administered in high-income and upper-middle-income countries. By contrast, less than 1 per cent have been administered in low-income countries.
The good news is both China and the US appear engaged in a vaccine donation rivalry, increasing rhetoric around larger pledges. China has also been transferring technology to developing countries and helping them establish domestic production lines, according to the Chinese news agency Global Times.
As President Joe Biden stated recently: "To beat the pandemic here, we need to beat it everywhere."
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