STAT reports:

As wealthy governments race to lock in supplies of Covid-19 vaccines, nearly a quarter of the world’s population — mostly in low and middle-income countries — will not have access to a shot until 2022, according to a new analysis.

As of mid-November, high income countries, including the European Union bloc, reserved 51% of nearly 7.5 billion doses of different Covid-19 vaccines, although these countries comprise just 14% of the world’s population. Meanwhile, only six of the 13 manufacturers working on Covid-19 vaccine candidates have reached agreements to sell their shots to low and middle-income countries.

The analysis, which was published in the BMJ, noted that access “varies markedly” across these countries. For instance, the U.S. reserved 800 million doses, but accounted for one-fifth of all Covid-19 cases globally. By contrast, Japan, Australia, and Canada reserved more than one billion doses, though these three countries combined did not account for even 1% of all current cases. [Continue reading…]