Vaccine inequity has large impacts on the socio-economic recovery of low-income countries from the pandemic

Vaccines and the vaccination process reveal the existing inequalities between countries and how they, in turn, impact the well-being of their citizens. People who live in less developed countries have a lower probability of being vaccinated, which translates into a greater probability of dying from COVID. Countries are seeing their economic future compromised by low vaccination levels, given the positive and significant relationship between the vaccination rate and GDP growth. In short, while some countries are trying to get back to some sort of normality, even with some pandemic protocols, the situation in less developed countries is more challenging due to weak health systems and low rates of vaccination. Consequently, the poorest, least developed countries with a lower rate of vaccine penetration will experience lower GDP growth, and the pandemic will have a greater effect on their economy due to low vaccination rates. Since March 2020, the world has faced the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented challenge with terrible health and socio-economic effects. In such a difficult context, the world has witnessed the rapid development of effective vaccines for fighting the disease. Both the development and the production of these vaccines opened a path of hope; however, vaccines are not reaching all parts of the world equally, which raises great concerns about the possibility of effectively eradicating the virus. According to the information collected by the WHO [1] and the United Nations [2], most vaccine doses have been distributed in high and upper-middle-income countries while other areas, especially African countries, are lagging in the vaccination process. COVID-19 vaccine inequality will profoundly impact socio-economic recovery in low-income countries if urgent action to assure equitable access worldwide is not taken; it would also set back progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [2,3]. Furthermore, unequal access to vaccines could increase other inequalities, since being unvaccinated generates economic and social disadvantages [4].