Study: ‘vaccine apartheid’ caused by gap in access between richer and poorer countries

While the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, research continues on the role of vaccines — their effectiveness as well as factors that contribute to a resistance to being vaccinated, and the worldwide availability of the vaccine. A new study co-authored by Ashely Fox and published this month in Health Affairs looks at “vaccine apartheid” — the gap in access to COVID-19 vaccines between high- and low-income countries. Fox, an associate professor in the Department of Public Administration & Policy at UAlbany’s Rockefeller College, was lead author of the study, “Substantial Disparities in COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake and Unmet Immunization Demand in Low- and Middle-Income Countries,” co-written by Yongjin Choi and Leesa Lin, both of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The new study is among the first to quantify unmet demand for the vaccine — people who would be willing to be vaccinated...