More Shots Alone Won’t Win the Global War on Variants
While speeding up vaccine donations, rich countries must also do more to get those doses into arms.
A vaccination in South Sudan, where thousands of shots went unused this spring.
Photographer: Andreea Campeanu/Getty Images
Covid-19 variants are racing through the developing world far faster than vaccinations. More shots are desperately needed to slow the spread of the disease — but even they won’t be enough.
The so-called delta variant in particular is tipping the pandemic into a frightening new stage. The highly transmissible strain, now infecting more than 100 countries, has upended poorer nations. Hospitals are overflowing in Indonesia, as patients’ relatives hunt desperately for oxygen cylinders. Deaths have been rising for more than a month in Africa, spiking 43% in just one week. Countries from Bangladesh to Zambia have recorded sky-high positivity rates.