Healthcare: Introduction

As world governments begin to roll out COVID-19 vaccination initiatives, they are faced with a dilemma. Are they allowed to discriminate against who can travel or visit restaurants, and theatres based on whether a person is vaccinated? Proponents of these restrictions say opening businesses to vaccinated persons is a solution for allowing the economy to safely heal. On the other hand, some say these types of restrictions may unfairly discriminate against minorities who are less likely to have access to a COVID-19 vaccine, or younger people who won’t be able to get access to a vaccine until later phases of vaccination initiatives. Some countries are already experimenting with these types of restrictions.

Since the coronavirus pandemic began last year, billions of dollars have been poured into the development of vaccines to protect people against the coronavirus. There are currently 12 developers working on—or that have produced—a coronavirus vaccine, including developers in China, India, Russia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany. Out of these 12 developers, 10 of these vaccines have been approved for use in one country or more. Because of the amazing and swift work of these developers, over one hundred million doses have been given worldwide, but the distribution of these vaccines is stirring discontent and requests for better vaccine distribution between all countries. Only 42 countries have begun administering the first doses of coronavirus vaccines, while there are over 130 countries that have not vaccinated a single person. Out of those 42 countries, 10 countries have been able to obtain and administered 75% of all of the coronavirus vaccines produced. This blog will dive into the current statistics on country vaccinations, why this problem persists, and which countries all of these vaccines are going to.