CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Even under the current cloud of COVID-19, with some context, there’s much more hope in America than in other parts of the world.
"It's still a pandemic in many parts of the world where vaccination rates are under 20% or even under 10% in many parts of Subsaharan Africa," Dr. Mark McClellan, former FDA commissioner, of Duke University said.
As our top health leaders push booster doses to get through the latest omicron surge, many poorer pockets of the world are still waiting on first doses.
According to our world in data, in low-income countries, just 5.5% of people have been fully vaccinated.
That’s compared to 72% of the population in high-income countries.
"We haven't yet seen the level of global financial and in-kind resource commitment proportional to the damage and the serious economic and health impacts caused by this pandemic," Dr. McCellan said.
Doctors say a global response is crucial, gaps in vaccination leave us all vulnerable to new variants.
Dr. McCellan said he thinks it’s likely another more dangerous or contagious variant will develop.
"The best way to slow down the progression of additional variants and the best way to get us all back to normal here and around the world is to get vaccination rates up," he said.
The World Health Organization set a target for countries to vaccinate 70% of their populations by the middle of this year.
If that’s accomplished, experts believe we can turn the corner into an endemic phase.
Contact Chloe Leshner at cleshner@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.