This Us & Them episode offers an update on global COVID vaccination efforts. Nearly 67 percent of U.S. citizens are fully vaccinated. Now, the effort shifts to providing vaccine to the world — even in places where logistics are complex. There are still more than a dozen countries with COVID vaccination rates at less than 10 percent. Now that vaccine supply is more plentiful, some look to the future and ways that we can learn from this experience.
Charges of vaccine hoarding and global protectionism are coloring the debate over our response to new strains of COVID with vaccinations. The World Health Organization reports so far, only 16 percent of people in low-income countries have gotten a single vaccine dose. That compares with 80 percent in some high-income countries.
The role vaccinations can play in shortening or ending the pandemic is still critical, although COVID fatigue may prevent people from getting their first dose or continuing on to complete the regimen. ‘America first’ has been central to the Biden administration’s vaccination campaign.
Now that focus has shifted and there’s more U.S. effort going into producing vaccines for the world. As international organizations work to get shots in arms, the effort continues to face challenges that may well affect our political and medical realities for years to come.
World Health Organization
Dr. Ann Lindstrand is a pediatrician and coordinator with the World Health Organization (WHO) Expanded Programme on Immunization Team in the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals. Prior to joining WHO, Ann was the Programme Manager for the National Immunization Programme in Sweden, and NITAG Chair at the Public Health Agency of Sweden. Throughout her career, Ann has also gained significant in-country experience in pediatric care and vaccination programmes in countries such as Angola, French Guyana, Mozambique, and India.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation and the CRC Foundation.
This program was made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 through the West Virginia Humanities Council. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations do not necessarily represent those of the West Virginia Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.
Dr. William A. Haseltine
/
Dr. William Haseltine has educated a generation of doctors at Harvard Medical School, designed the strategy to develop the first treatment for HIV/AIDS, is well known for his groundbreaking work on cancer, and led the team that pioneered the development of new drugs based on information from the human genome. TIME magazine named him one of the “25 Most Influential Global Business Executives.” Today, as the Chair and President of ACCESS Health International and an internationally recognized expert on the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Haseltine is dedicated to ensuring that quantum advancements in medical technology translate to improved health outcomes around the world.
Trey Kay
/
Patrick Hancock, owner of the Heroes Pub in Goose Creek, SC.
United Nations Journalism Fellowship
Amitoj Singh, is an on-the-move international multimedia journalist driven to be a first responder providing information from the trenches. Currently, he is the India Regulatory Reporter for CoinDesk. He has contributed to CNN, Business Insider, SBS Australia, Al Jazeera, Columbia Global Reports, and India’s New Delhi Television Ltd. (NDTV).
Courtesy
Amitoj Singh hugging his grandmother in Gurgaon, Northern India.
Columbia University
/
Mailman School Of Public Health
Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr is the director of Columbia World Projects and director of the Mailman School’s Global Health Initiative. She is an international expert in infectious diseases and public health with extensive experience in epidemiology and research on the prevention and management of HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and emerging infections, among others.
Courtesy
Misbil Hagi-Salaad is Somali-American and lives part time in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a nurse practitioner, who works two jobs: one at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, and the other at Sibley Memorial Hospital, which is part of Johns Hopkins in Washington, DC. This photo was taken in the Dubai Mall in 2019.
The coronavirus pandemic continues to prove just how interconnected the world is. Now, a new COVID strain called “omicron,” shows the potential downside of our global vaccination approach.
As people in the U.S and Europe line up for booster shots, low vaccination rates in some countries allow the virus to mutate into new strains. ‘America first’ has been a consistent focus for the Biden administration’s vaccination campaign.
Early in 2021, high income countries controlled nearly 60 percent of global vaccine doses, despite having just 16 percent of the world’s population. Millions of people around the world continue to wait for their first vaccination dose.
COVID may prove the only way to defeat a virus is to provide equitable treatment around the world.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the CRC Foundation and the West Virginia Humanities Council.
This program is made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 through the West Virginia Humanities Council. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations do not necessarily represent those of the West Virginia Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Trey Kay
/
Patrick Hancock, owner of the Heroes Pub in Goose Creek, SC.
United Nations Journalism Fellowship
Amitoj Singh, is an on-the-move international multimedia journalist driven to be a first responder providing information from the trenches. Currently, he is the India Regulatory Reporter for CoinDesk. He has contributed to CNN, Business Insider, SBS Australia, Al Jazeera, Columbia Global Reports, and India’s New Delhi Television Ltd. (NDTV).
Amitoj Singh hugging his grandmother in Gurgaon, Northern India
Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr is the director of Columbia World Projects and director of the Mailman School’s Global Health Initiative. She is an international expert in infectious diseases and public health with extensive experience in epidemiology and research on the prevention and management of HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and emerging infections, among others.
/
Columbia Univeristy – Mailman School of Public Health
Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr,
Misbil Hagi-Salaad is Somali-American and lives part time in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a nurse practitioner, who works two jobs: one at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, and the other at Sibley Memorial Hospital, which is part of Johns Hopkins in Washington, DC. This photo was taken in the Dubai Mall in 2019.
Vice President Mike Pence has used a stop in West Virginia to boast about border security, the economy and conservative judges and plug the state’s GOP congressional delegation and lend support to the Republican nominee seeking to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin.
Pence criticized Manchin, saying he has opposed President Donald Trump’s initiatives, but said the administration has delivered new jobs and low unemployment anyway.
In video from the event Thursday shown on WOWK-TV’s website, Pence said Manchin’s opponent, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, defends coal miners and energy producers and supports the Second Amendment.
The Intelligencer said the event in Wheeling was sponsored by America First Policies.
Pence was next going to a private fundraiser for Morrisey’s campaign sponsored by Murray Energy CEO and President Robert E. Murray.
Original Post:
Vice President Mike Pence is making a stop in West Virginia to speak at a public event and later attend a private fundraiser.
The Intelligencer in Wheeling said America First Policies is sponsoring the free public event, where Pence is to speak following a panel discussion on the federal tax overhaul. The event is being held at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Oglebay Park’s Wilson Lodge in Wheeling.
State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey will speak after the discussion and introduce Gov. Jim Justice. America First Policies spokeswoman Erin Montgomery said Justice will then introduce Pence. Pence also is expected at a private fundraiser for Morrisey’s U.S. Senate campaign sponsored by Murray Energy CEO and President Robert E. Murray.
