Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine and what it could mean for Countries around the world

There are many vaccines being developed for COVID-19, with the hopes of being able to distribute them. Oxford University, according to CNN, is developing a vaccine, the AstraZeneca vaccine, with a 70% success rate. Although this is not particularly high, compared to Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines, which each have a success rate of around 95%, Oxford’s vaccine will be more accessible to people across the world. The plan with Oxford’s vaccine is to allow for it to be distributed to poorer countries.

This vaccine, if its success rate is able to be maintained, will greatly impact developing countries that have been heavily impacted by COVID. AstraZeneca has pledged 300 million doses to COVAX, which is affiliated with The World Health Organization (WHO) to help distribute the doses to 92 developing countries.

The AstraZeneca is being priced at $3 to $4 a dose, while the other vaccines are being priced at a minimum of $20 per dose, and can be priced up to almost $40. Wealthier countries have purchased billions of dollars worth of vaccine doses in order to cover their populations and make sure everyone is able to get vaccinated when vaccines become widely available.

The lower price vaccine, and having millions of doses of the vaccine pledged to poorer countries, will help vaccines be available globally. Having people all over the world get vaccinated will help lower the risk of Coronavirus. Although this will not ultimately make COVID-19 disappear, it will be a step in the right direction to getting things back to ”normal” or as close to it as possible all over the world.