COVID-19 vaccine success can enable universal healthcare – here’s how

For more than 200 years, human beings managed to avert widespread pestilence with vaccines. While not a silver bullet, vaccines provide us with the freedom to engage with the world without the fear of debilitating disease. As we reflect on the global relevance of vaccines during World Immunization Week, we quickly acknowledge that persistent societal disparities have affected our ability to equitably vaccinate, a phenomenon that has been illuminated by COVID-19. As we pursue systems designed to equal the playing field in the spirit of collective global welfare, we must consider whether immunizations are simply products of universal access, or are themselves are enablers of this global target. Global value of immunization diminished by health inequalities Despite the target for global equitable access to immunization by organizations such as GAVI and the World Health Organization, there remains a huge gap in levels of vaccine accessibility at both national and global levels. Low...