Little Progress This Year on Vaccine Equity Bodes Poorly for Full Tourism Recovery

Nearly a year since the start of global vaccine distributions and nearly six months since Skift’s first coverage on vaccine equity and its impact on the recovery of tourism, the needle hasn’t moved. Ten of the world’s richest countries are currently hoarding an excess of 870 million doses — the U.S. being the chief vaccine hoarder — of which approximately 241 million are estimated to expire by year end without any plan to redistribute them. Pharmaceutical companies also continue to prioritize rich nations in their distributions, as less than three percent of people in low income nations have been fully vaccinated against 60 percent in high income countries with one dose.

Those are the damning facts in a new report from Doctors Without Borders, in which the humanitarian organization points to an ongoing divergent economic recovery as