TherapeuTic advances in vaccines and immunotherapy pandemic, in 2009, where similar circumstances developed. 6 Tedros called these incidents a ‘global failure’. Similarly, WHO’s Chief Scientist Swaminathan also recalls how these inequalities hark back to the 1990s when she saw her HIV patients in India die when the drugs were saving lives in the west. 7

Although COVAX, a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI), and the WHO, was launched to ensure this segregation is not carried into the current pandemic, it does not seem to be anywhere near achieving its goal. The major reasons for it are disparity in vaccine deployment infrastructure of HICs and LMICs, the prevalence of vaccine nationalism, and the facility’s at-risk funding strategy. 8, 9 Swaminathan, WHO’s Chief Scientist says that COVAX was a beautiful idea that failed to deliver its goal because none of the manufacturers prioritized it. 10