Thread by @astroehlein

At the current rate of vaccination (about 300,000 doses a week) and with some 14.2 million jabs still needed to reach estimated target herd immunity of 70% in a population of 11 million, #Belgium's Covid-19 vaccination program will take 11 more months.
epistat.wiv-isp.be/covid/covid-19…

It's not just Belgium. The EU generally is also going slowly with vaccinations.
ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-…

Meanwhile, the US, which (unlike EU countries) doesn't have a national healthcare system to speak of and normally has the worst health numbers in the developed world, is doing much better.
covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tra…

Many other countries have barely been able to even start vaccinations yet.

Note, most EU countries are closer to these “have nots” than the “haves” in the US.
ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-…

The problem continues to be extremely short supplies of vaccines worldwide.

Some continue to address this problem by arguing over the scraps...

Other countries continue to not even have scraps.

The arguments fill the national media & drive national politics: us against them. Do we get the vaccine first, or do they?

It all masks the fact that vaccinations are going too slowly worldwide.

Too slowly for everyone.
theguardian.com/world/2021/mar…

It's very simple.

The longer the virus is among us & infecting us, the more of us it will kill...

...and the greater the chance of variants emerging that will be deadlier...

...and/or more easily spread...

...and/or evade the current vaccines.

On the first two - more deadly and more easily spread - we have already seen that with the B.1.1.7 variant: edition.cnn.com/2021/03/10/hea…

On the third point - a variant that could evade current vaccines - there is some grim-sounding news from South Africa today: telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…

The current vaccine roll-out has largely been rich governments making opaque deals & arguing over scarce supplies, while also blocking efforts to temporarily waive complex global trade rules that could give us the best chance at vaccine access for all.
hrw.org/news/2021/04/0…

Make no mistake: vaccine equity is a moral imperative.

Health as a human right — enshrined in the WHO charter — means Covid-19 vaccines should be available to everyone.

The current vaccine inequality is an insult to human decency.

https://twitter.com/WHOAFRO/status/1379772330310823936

We all need the vaccine.

Rich governments continuing to fight over scarce vaccine supplies while also blocking wider vaccine production globally is not going to solve the problem.

It only gives the virus more time.

We are all in this together, both morally and practically.

We need to boost vaccine production globally. As soon as possible.

Over 1.2 million people worldwide have signed this petition. Join us:
secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/pe…

And over 140,000 EU citizens have signed this official "Citizens' Initiative" to make anti-pandemic vaccines and treatments a global public good, freely accessible to everyone. Join us:
noprofitonpandemic.eu