Developing nations that desperately need these more effective vaccines are virtually locked out
Two and a half years into the COVID pandemic, the numbers are grim. While 80% of people living in the richest countries on earth have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, the corresponding figure for those in the poorest countries is 18%. The loss of life was incalculable, literally: no one is sure how many people have died from COVID.
mRNA vaccines can be made faster, more easily and by more manufacturers than traditional vaccines. Until the coronavirus pandemic, all our vaccines required cultivation in eggs or yeast, for example, which is time-consuming and complicated. But mRNA technology is something like a hack: even though mRNA vaccines can be synthesized in a test tube, our bodies recognize them as biological.
Consider 2021: manufacturers produced plenty of effective vaccine but they didn’t get to everyone who needed them, resulting in viral variants most of those vaccines were less effective against. To date, 93 percent of all mRNA vaccines ordered went to rich countries, according to Airfinity, a health analytics company that tracks vaccine supplies. This year, Moderna expects to make three billion doses, and Pfizer, four billion.
My struggle for mRNA vaccines is personal. I live in India where, until recently, I was ineligible for a COVID vaccine booster, despite having been vaccinated nearly a year ago. My parents, who are in their 80s, received their first booster shot in January—a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has proven among the least effective at preventing Omicron transmission. Our country, and a majority of the world, await access to the best protection, an mRNA vaccine.
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