Covid vaccine production is now so high that millions of doses risk going to waste while poorer countries struggle for supplies
- Gordon Brown was UK prime minister between 2007 and 2010
Soon, the ten-billionth Covid vaccine will roll off the production lines. By January, according to a recent report from the data research agency Airfinity, a tipping point will be reached when there will be enough vaccine doses for every adult on every continent. By June the number of doses will reach 27bn, enough to fully immunise the world’s population twice over.
But despite this manufacturing triumph, we are losing badly in the arms race to actually inject every adult in every country. Next summer, on current trends, more than half the world will remain unvaccinated. We simply aren’t getting doses out to the people who need them.