News Outlets Examine Inequities In Vaccine Distribution, Vaccine Diplomacy, Nationalism

CNN: Rich countries are hoarding Covid-19 vaccines and leaving the developing world behind, People’s Vaccine Alliance warns
“Rich countries have bought enough Covid-19 vaccine doses to immunize their populations three times over, an international vaccine watchdog has said, but developing countries are being left behind in the global sprint to end the coronavirus pandemic. In 67 poorer nations, just one in 10 people can hope to receive a vaccine by the end of next year, the People’s Vaccine Alliance said on Wednesday…” (Picheta, 12/9).

PRI: As COVID-19 vaccines roll out, does the world face ‘tragedy of the commons’?
“David McAdams, an economist at Duke University, has been thinking a lot about a nearly 200-year-old concept lately. The ‘tragedy of the commons’ centers on a group of shepherds who let their sheep graze on a ‘common’ field. ‘But because everyone is focusing on their own sheep, the grass gets eaten down to the roots, and everyone’s sheep die,’ McAdams said of the hypothetical shared-resource situation. As nations now vie for COVID-19 vaccines, McAdams and other global health experts wonder — are we living through another tragedy of the commons?…” (Gordon, 12/8).

Quartz: China’s coronavirus vaccine diplomacy has already begun
“China began the year with its international reputation tarnished after anger that it quelled early reports of a new respiratory virus. It hopes to end it on a better note — by dispatching vaccines to countries who might otherwise have to wait longer for the shots. Over the weekend, Indonesia received 1.2 million vaccine doses from Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac, prompting a major discussion on social network Weibo, where the topic garnered 120 million views…” (Li, 12/8).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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