Princeton researchers expose consequences of vaccine nationalism

A Princeton University and McGill University study published Aug. 17 in Science journal revealed that vaccine nationalism may lead to increases in the transmission of COVID-19. The authors define vaccine nationalism as the “stockpiling [of] vaccines to prioritize rapid access to their citizenry.” The researchers examined the transnational implications of vaccine nationalism by testing various assumptions in a high access region (HAR) and a low access region (LAR). They found, through more equitable vaccine sharing between HAR and LAR countries, that infections and the potential for antigenic evolution, or the emergence of new strains of the virus, would decrease. “Vaccine nationalism, dosing regimes, and host immune responses have important interactive effects, and these will substantially shape epidemiological dynamics and evolutionary potential in the medium term,” the study said. The authors reached this conclusion through the creation of two models: a decoupled and coupled framework. The decoupled framework assumes that the epidemiological dynamics of two...