It is a privilege to have a COVID-19 vaccine.  

So far 39.6% of the world population have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In the UK, 42.8M people are now fully vaccinated – 64.2% of UK population. As we see more and more people getting vaccines, we forget that this is not the case for everyone. Where The UK sees success other countries see struggle.  

• The United States, although facing their difficulties with the amount of people wanting to get the vaccine, now have 174M people fully vaccinated, which is about 53% of their population.  

• 75.9% of The United Arab Emirates population are now fully vaccinated. 
• Singapore following with 77.7% fully vaccinated. 
• Qatar with 74.8%  
• While Western European countries all nearly at 50% of their population.  

The similarity in these few countries, being that they all have wealth, some in the top 10 of wealthiest countries in the world. Whereas in Eastern/Southern Europe, large parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America continue to struggle. Their access to the vaccine is limited. 

• The Democratic Republic of The Congo which has a population of 86.79 million (not too far ahead of Germany) now have 5,871 people fully vaccinated.  
• Sierra Leone sees 0.4% of the population fully vaccinated. 
• Liberia and Afghanistan both have 0.6% of the population vaccinated, both completely different in population size. 
• Ukraine with 8.6% fully vaccinated. 
• Belarus with 13.4% 

• Venezuela now has 11.7% of the population fully vaccinated.  

These countries however are united by their absence of wealth. 1.4% of poor countries have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Something that most would not care about because they believe it does not affect them directly, but the less prevention globally that we have against COVID-19 the more it carries on leading us all for more risk of other Covid variants.  

Therefore, vaccine manufacture needs to be globalised, it is not only a must but a right. The vaccines should become freely available around the world, not just reserved for some. It is beneficial for everyone to get access to COVID-19 vaccines, whether they decide to have it or not, the option of doing so should still be available.  

While all the countries mentioned above differ in land mass, population, political stance etc. One simple fact remains, centuries of frustration continue to deflect the issues facing poorer countries.  

Covid has also pushed more people into poverty as lockdowns began happening and in some of these countries, they need constant working just to keep the essentials. As of today, 689 million people live in poverty.  Luckily, more and more people are starting to talk and put a light on this. Lots of organisations are giving donations and raising awareness.  

As new variants of COVID-19 are now being monitored by the WHO, the newest variants having been found in South Africa and the effects of Omicron. Up to 50% of the population lives in poverty, with 25% experiencing food poverty. Although the new variant so far not seen as a threat, South Africa only has 10.2% of its population fully vaccinated. In January the MU variant was originally found in Colombia and now is seen in nearly 40 different countries, including the UK, this variant indicates a risk of resistance to vaccines. In Colombia the Mu variant accounts for 39% of cases.  

We will continue to see rates like this until every country around the world gets a fair shot at staying protected against Covid.