WHY WE NEED TO VACCINATE THE WORLD Dr Kath Brown
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n the UK to date there have been 176,000 deaths of people within 28 days of a positive Covid test. At least 1.5m are estimated to be experiencing ‘long Covid’ symptoms. More than 39m people – over 58% of the population – have been fully vaccinated. Over the last two years, GP surgeries up and down the country have risen to the challenge of providing healthcare to our patients in entirely different ways, trying to protect our patients and staff from Covid whilst offering ongoing care, and leading the Covid vaccination programme (as well as two expanded flu drives) in a way that has been truly outstanding. We should be incredibly proud of what we achieved. Data from the National Audit Office showed that up to October 2021, 71% of vaccines were given in primary care with remarkable efficiency. Yet, despite excellent vaccination rates, wave after wave of infections are
hitting our surgeries, we’re still seeing patients dying of Covid and living with the long-term impact of the virus and the pandemic. The pandemic has certainly highlighted domestic inequalities. But viruses do not respect borders and Covid has highlighted worldwide inequalities in healthcare. Thousands are dying in silence in Africa. For them, there are no ICU beds, no lifesaving drugs and only limited supplies of oxygen. Millions are unvaccinated; 7.2% of Nigerians have had two doses compared with 86.5% in the UK. Healthcare workers risk their lives as they treat patients with Covid despite being unvaccinated and having no PPE. The world has sent millions of doses of vaccine that are of little use because of the lack of syringes, fridges, or healthcare workers to put jabs in arms. Struggling services are devastated as healthcare workers lose their lives to Covid. More lives are being lost to TB, HIV, malaria and malnutrition as healthcare workers are stretched beyond their limits. Lives are being lost to preventable diseases as vaccinations for measles and polio are missed. Children are orphaned and cannot attend school. Adults are sick, unable to work and provide for their families. The way out of the pandemic is through global vaccine equity. There is no end until we are all safe. In February, the Access to Covid 19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), a partnership of leading global agencies, including the World Health Organization and COVAX, revealed a costed business plan to achieve global vaccine equity based on fair share financing from rich countries.
This will enable them to support low to middle income countries to roll out their vaccination programmes and deliver tests, treatment and PPE to those who need it most. The ‘fair share’ requested from the UK is a mere £720m compared to the eye watering £370bn spent on our domestic response, or the £37bn spent on test and trace. £720m may sound like a large sum but represents just 0.036% of our annual GDP. Put another way, it represents for every fully vaccinated UK citizen, the cost of a single grape in a weekly grocery shop. Apart from our moral obligation, there are clear advantages to the UK funding ACT-A: we protect ourselves from the emergence of potentially more lethal variants; help end the pandemic sooner; and get our economy back on track. Failing to meet the WHO target could result in 5m more deaths worldwide. More lives lost and lives changed. We owe it to our future generations to grow and thrive in a better and safer world. Many of you will have heard of #VaccinateTheWorld, a UK based campaign that has the support of the RCGP and organisations including the BMA, other Royal Colleges and the Doctors Association. They have a simple call: to ask the Prime Minister to donate 0.036% of our annual GDP to pay our fair share and help vaccinate the world.
To support this campaign please go to www.vtw.org.uk Dr Kath Brown is a GP in Newquay and a member of the VTW Board With thanks to Dr David Attwood, Dr Lucy Henshall, Dr Simon Hodes and Dr Sonali Kinra for their contributions. Statistics correct at time of publication (May 2022)
OPINION
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