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When it comes to vaccinating people in middle- and lower-income countries against COVID-19, some global health advocates say it’s time for a serious re-think.
“We seem to have lost perspective as to what the major goal of vaccines is and where they are going to yield the greatest public health benefit,” says Shabir Madhi, a prominent vaccine researcher at South Africa’s University of Witwatersrand.
Specifically, Madhi argues that governments in countries that still have low vaccination rates should shift their attention to vaccinating those who are most vulnerable to severe disease from the coronavirus. That means people age 50 and above or those with health conditions that put them at particular risk. The aim, says Madhi, should be to get 90% or more of people in this category vaccinated.
Unfortunately, he says, that effort is being hampered by a simultaneous push to meet a different goal – vaccinating 70% of all adults regardless of age or health status. It’s an objective originally conceived by the World Health Organization, then embraced and promoted by the United States. But, says Madhi, it’s a goal that could now be proving a harmful distraction.
The origin of the 70% goal
To understand why, it helps to consider how the 70% target emerged. Earlier on in the pandemic, the first results of mRNA vaccine trials suggested they would be extremely effective at preventing infection with COVID. This fueled hopes that if roughly 70% of a given country’s population were vaccinated, it might be possible to drastically curb the spread of the virus there.
The World Health Organization initially proposed that the world ensure all countries meet the 70%-vaccinated target by mid-2022.Then, last September, President Biden convened a global summit at which he made the 70% goal a major priority and set a new deadline: fall of 2022.
Gayle Smith was then coordinator of the U.S. global COVID response. “Our thinking…