Historically, world-wide immunization campaigns have led to the eradication of smallpox and significantly reduced polio, measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus.
[4] Multiple factors support the emergence and spread of pandemics, not least the ability of people to travel long distances and widely transmit viruses.
The more widespread a virus is, and the larger and more varied the population it affects, the more likely it is to evolve more transmissible, more virulent,[4] and more vaccine resistant variants.
Ensuring that all populations receive access to vaccines is a pragmatic means towards achieving global public health.
[4][7] Infectious diseases are disproportionately likely to affect those in low and middle-income neighborhoods and countries (LMICs), making vaccine equity an issue for local and national public health and for foreign policy.
Ethically and morally, access for all to essential medicines such as vaccines is fundamentally related to the human right to health, which is well founded in international law.
[13] Within countries, there may be lower rates of vaccination in racial and ethnic minority groups, in older adults, and among those living with disabilities or chronic conditions.
The distribution and accessibility of vaccines show significant disparities between urban and rural areas especially in low- and middle-income countries.
[13] Achieving control of a disease (such as COVID-19) requires not only developing and licensing vaccines but also producing them at scale, pricing them so that they are globally affordable, allocating them to be available where and when they are needed, and deploying them to local communities.
[18] Developing a new drug and gaining regulatory approval for it is a long and expensive process that can involve a variety of stakeholders.
[26][27][28] Emerging and reemerging viruses substantially affect people in low and middle income countries (LMICs),[6] a pattern that is likely to increase due to climate change.
[29][30][31] Pharmaceutical companies have few financial incentives to develop treatments for neglected tropical diseases in poor countries.
[28] International organizations such as the World Health Organization, Unicef and the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network support development of treatments for diseases such as West Nile virus, dengue fever; Chikungunya, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Ebola, enterovirus D68 and Zika virus.
[citation needed] Amnesty International, Oxfam International, and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; Doctors without Borders) have criticized government support of some vaccine monopolies, on the grounds that the monopolies dramatically increase prices and impair vaccine equity.
This could allow those countries to better ensure that their own production needs are being met, which would help to achieve global vaccine equity.
[37][38] For example, the African Union Commission and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has called on countries and organizations to enable the production of at least 60% of the total vaccine doses required on the continent by 2040.
[39] Potential problems to this can involve:[37] Even when organizations are willing to share their information, knowledge transfer can create serious delays for the production of vaccines.
[2] As an allocation mechanism, Covax has succeeded in distributing COVID-19 vaccines, beginning with a shipment to Ghana on 24 February 2021.
[44] Ideally a global vaccine hub could have been developed by the international community before it was needed, rather than under the pressures of a pandemic.
[45] Analyses of Covax' institutional design and governance structures suggest that it lacked leverage to influence the behavior of donor states and pharmaceutical companies.
[42] Others argue that such a body needs high-level leadership that is able to act at political and diplomatic levels to address issues of vaccine diplomacy as well as streamlining its mechanisms.
Hot climates, remote regions, and low-resource settings need cheap, transportable, easy-to-use vaccines.
[47][52] Communicating about public health risks is more effective when a message involves three or four specific talking points, which are then backed up with evidence.
[53] It is important to be aware of and address issues such as medical disparities, abuse, neglect, and disinformation that may affect communities.
[69][67] Our World in Data provides up to date statistics of COVID-19 vaccine access between nations, socioeconomic groups, and more.
[71] On 29 January 2022, Pope Francis denounced the "distortion of reality based on fear" that has ripped across the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.