Equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines makes public health sense, economic sense, and moral sense. But if vaccine distribution remains as grossly inequitable as it is today, there will be no end of this pandemic for anyone. The only solution is to act together through collective solutions such as the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator — a World Health Organization-led global health partnership that aims to equitably get COVID-19 tools to everyone, everywhere. The world must commit and swiftly act to ensure the pandemic will end for rich and poor countries alike.

It’s a marvel that only a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, we have multiple safe and effective vaccines. What’s more, over 1.2 billion doses have already been made available to more than 206 countries. Yet, it’s an injustice that only 0.3% of the world’s supply of COVID-19 vaccines has gone to the world’s poorest countries. As the world watches COVID-19 cases and deaths skyrocket and health systems on the verge of collapse in India, Brazil, and elsewhere, the time to speed an end to the pandemic for everyone, everywhere has never been more urgent.

The ongoing effort to ensure equitable access and distribution to COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments has been led by the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, a first-of-its-kind global partnership led by the World Health Organization (WHO). Since its launch in April 2020, the ACT Accelerator has had a significant impact, thanks to the support of global donors, activists, and unprecedented global cooperation. COVAX, the vaccine pillar of the ACT Accelerator, has delivered more than 49 million vaccines to 121 countries, with the goal of reaching at least 2 billion by the end of 2021.

Read the full article about ending the pandemic by Rachel Bridges at United Nations Foundation.