Equity and Access in the Global COVID-19 Vaccination Drive

The advent of successful vaccines has been a major breakthrough in the fight against the SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) virus.

However, the drive to get populations vaccinated throws up many ethical and political challenges. To be effective, a vaccination strategy should be co-ordinated so as to reach all parts of the world, irrespective of geography and levels of wealth. However, this is currently not happening and fears are growing that ‘vaccine wars’ will compound inequities and hamper the global fight against the virus. There are also major dilemmas over how much resource to invest in vaccination as against not just other strategies to tackle COVID-19 but also the many other areas of health need that have been neglected. These themes and challenges will be discussed by a panel of experts at a University of Birmingham Forum for Global Challenges.

Panellists will include: 

• Dr Beverley Essue, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto 
• Dr Stephen John, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge 
• Professor Lydia Kapiriri, Department of Health Aging & Society, McMaster University 
• Dr Iestyn Williams, School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham