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Only weeks ago people in the U.S. labored over their computers and smartphones, continuously hitting the refresh button, in hopes of securing a coveted COVID-19 vaccine slot.
Now American adults receive almost 2 million doses on average every day, with more than 45 percent already fully vaccinated against COVID. And kids 12 through 15 are also eligible for the Pfizer vaccine. Though, supply for vaccines in the U.S. is outpacing demand due to people's dwindling interest and hesitancy to receive a jab.
Other countries haven't been as lucky.
While rich countries gobbled up vaccine doses, accounting for over three-quarters given, many low-income countries have been left behind.
But relief organizations are working around the clock to get shots to the people who desperately need them — no matter where they live or their income.
Partners in Health, a global health organization, is one example.
"Our end goal is to get people vaccinated," says Dr. Joia Mukherjee, Partner in Health's chief medical officer.
Recently, the Biden administration announced it supported easing World Trade Organization intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines. In theory, this would allow any country or company to make its own generic version of the vaccines.
Easing patent protections isn't necessarily a silver bullet for countries caught in the worst of the pandemic, however. Some argue the focus on patents is a shallow political move because it'll take years for countries to build the infrastructure to manufacture doses. They'd need "the raw materials, equipment, and storage needed to efficiently and effectively produce" the vaccines, Kaiser Health News and PolitiFact argued.
And waiving the patents isn't a done deal because all 164 members of the World Trade Organization would have to agree on the decision, and it would likely take months before a call is made.
But Mukherjee agrees lifting the protections is a move in the right direction.
"From my experience of moving from zero access, whether it's in HIV, tuberculosis, cholera vaccines, to access, one step is allowing mass production," she says. "The only way you can allow mass production is waiving the patents."
The U.S. will send an additional 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines abroad, Bloomberg News reported, but it's unclear which countries are on the short list.
Meanwhile, countries such as India and Nepal are experiencing crippling spikes in COVID cases, with wealthier Indians turning to the black market to buy oxygen cylinders at 10 times their pre-pandemic prices, desperate to help their loved ones breathe. Nepalese emergency rooms are also filled to the brink as migrants working in India return home.
While masks are coming off in the U.S., we're nowhere near the end of the pandemic. To help us get there, donate your dollars and raise your voices in support of these initiatives.
COVAX
COVAX is an international partnership that aims to get people in 190 countries vaccinated. So far it's shipped 68 million vaccines to 124 participants. It's distributed vaccines to everyone from frontline workers in the megacity of Lagos, Nigeria to nomads living in rural Batsumber in Mongolia. For comparison, more than 150 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
The partnership is co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organization (WHO). UNICEF is a key delivery partner.
COVAX is accepting donations to help pay for making and distributing COVID vaccines. About half of the countries who receive vaccines from COVAX are low-income, and their doses are donor-funded. Such countries include Nepal, India, Haiti, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Ukraine, Rwanda, and the Philippines. The other half are higher income countries who pay for their own doses, including Canada, China, Switzerland, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, and Iran.
The World Health Organization is running a campaign called Go Give One to raise money for COVAX. The campaign calls on people to donate US$7 for one vaccine dose — or more for additional doses.
Companies can also participate by promising to match funds donated by employees and customers.
UNICEF
UNICEF, or the United Nations Children's Fund, is a United Nations agency that provides children humanitarian aid and is the world's largest provider of vaccines.
In addition to being COVAX's delivery partner, it does the prep work necessary for a vaccine rollout, such as teaching healthcare workers to administer vaccines and addressing vaccine hesitancy.
In a recent statement, UNICEF urged countries such as the UK, Canada, and the U.S. to donate their extra COVID-19 doses given COVAX isn't even halfway towards its distribution goal for this point in time. It should've delivered 170 million doses by now, based on projections and manufacturer agreements.
Despite India being the world's biggest vaccine maker, it's prioritizing COVID vaccine doses for itself. It's not expecting to begin exporting vaccines until October, which will have dire effects on COVAX efforts around the globe.
"Soaring domestic demand [within India] has meant that 140 million doses intended for distribution to low- and middle-income countries through the end of May cannot be accessed by COVAX," Henrietta Fore, UNICEF's executive director, said in a statement.
COVAX expected another 50 million doses in June from an Indian manufacturer, but that is unlikely to pull through given India's announcement about the fall timeline.
"This, added to vaccine nationalism, limited production capacity and lack of funding, is why the roll-out of COVID vaccines is so behind schedule," said Fore.
Here's how to support UNICEF's COVID-19 response, which includes vaccine advocacy and distribution.
Partners in Health
Partners in Health supports global COVID-19 vaccine equity initiatives while also pushing for them to be better. Mukherjee says Partners in Health wants COVAX to be more ambitious with its goal to vaccinate 20 percent of the population in its target countries.
Partners in Health works in countries such as Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone and aims to advocate for vaccine distribution to the most vulnerable in the most remote areas.
Once the language of the patent waiver is available, Partners in Health will also lobby the Biden administration to go further if it isn't as comprehensive as the organization thinks it should be, such as including access to COVID technologies like diagnostics and treatments.
You can donate to Partners in Health's overall work, which includes advocacy to get people around the world vaccinated.
If you don't have money to spare, consider signing this petition to urge the U.S. government to join the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Technology Access Pool. The pool shares and compiles "COVID-19 health technology related knowledge, intellectual property and data" in one place in an effort to make more COVID-19 doses.
Save the Children
Save the Children, an organization that protects children around the world via food, education, and health services, is helping the world get vaccinated against COVID-19. Here are some ways:
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Training, supervising, and coaching healthcare workers in COVID-19 prevention, management, and vaccine administration policies
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Supporting logistics to get vaccines from national vaccine supply stores to the farthest-to-reach delivery points
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Facilitating digitalization of healthcare data systems to monitor disease outbreaks and vaccinations in as close to real time as possible
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Addressing vaccine hesitancy in communities around the world
"There is a massive amount of resources needed right now to get the vaccines from an airport hangar to trained health workers who will deliver the vaccine to the most vulnerable," Kathryn Bolles, Save the Children's director of global health and nutrition, wrote in an email to Mashable. "For countries around the world right now experiencing deadly surges, there is even more urgency to rollout vaccines to as many as possible even as we support care for the ill."
Donations support Save the Children's overall efforts but COVID is the biggest emergency it's tackling currently.
Project HOPE
Project HOPE, a global health and humanitarian relief organization, empowers and trains local healthcare workers to prevent disease and save lives.
It's been vocal about the need for vaccine equity and access through statements, has launched an online training in over 20 African countries to prepare local medical staff and frontline responders for the vaccine rollout, and is developing trainings on vaccine science, administration, and equitable access for frontline healthcare workers globally.
You can donate to support Project HOPE's general COVID relief work, including efforts to get everyone vaccinated.
The People's Vaccine Alliance
The People's Vaccine Alliance is a movement of health, humanitarian, and human rights organizations, past and present world leaders, health experts, faith leaders and economists, advocating for COVID-19 vaccines to be created quickly, without intellectual property protections, in large quantities, and free for everyone.
Its website lists several ways you can get involved, such as tweeting at big pharmaceutical companies to suspend their vaccine patents, urging countries that oppose dropping vaccine patents to change their position, and spreading the word about vaccine inequity locally and online.
UPDATE: May 20, 2021, 10:59 a.m. EDT A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Partners in Health would lobby the World Trade Organization to push the intellectual property protections waiver further if it isn’t as comprehensive as the organization would like. Rather, Partners in Health would lobby the Biden administration.
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