CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dozens of companies in multiple countries are racing to develop a COVID-19 vaccine but it turns out, when a vaccine does become available, some healthy competition in the market is not what we need.
Global competition for a coronavirus vaccine could spark another problem: Who gets it first?
There are close to 200 vaccines in development stages around the world. So far, at least two of those vaccines have triggered an immune response in clinical trials. Here's the problem with it. One of those vaccines is being worked on by British scientists and the United Kingdom has already paid for the first 100 million doses produced.
Meanwhile, the United States has made a deal with Pfizer to get 100 million doses of its vaccine. This all works in countries with the money to handle a massive undertaking like vaccine research and development, but there are plenty of countries that don't have the resources. It's not just their problem, either.
As we've learned, coronavirus doesn't respect borders. An ongoing outbreak in one country can be a threat to the entire world if untreated. Public health experts warn that we need to come up with a plan to make sure everyone has access to a vaccine to end the COVID-19 threat to us all.
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