Most commonly refers to wealthier nations making deals with pharmaceutical manufacturers to secure access to a new vaccine for their own people before any other country. It also refers to the competitive race between nations to be the first to develop and produce a safe and effective vaccine to prevent infection from a newly discovered virus such as SARS-CoV-2.
Vaccine nationalism is of great concern especially during a global health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of doses of vaccines are being bought up by wealthier nations even before the vaccines are available. This creates a lack of supply for low-income countries which effectively leaves them without access to life-saving vaccines for their citizens.
Categories:
Infectious Disease Vaccines