As We Get Even Closer To Covid-19 Vaccines For Young Kids, We Cannot Forget The Rest Of The World – Forbes

Dr. Vanessa Kerry, cofounder and CEO of Seed Global Health, discusses the need to place equity and fairness at the heart of the global health agenda.

Access to Covid-19 vaccines remains elusive for children as well as adults in many parts of the ... [+] world.

This week parents across the United States were greeted with the news that Pfizer was submitting data to the FDA that its Covid-19 vaccine has been found to be safe and effective for children as young as five. As a parent myself, I imagine my sighs of mingled relief, exhaustion, and joy were mirrored in millions of households.

Equally, as a medical doctor and public health professional, I am pleased to see the data showing how the vaccine generates an appreciable antibody response and proving it is safe.

But that doesnt erase how exceedingly difficult the last two years have been. Parents have borne a unique burdentrying to balance the demands of work, a dramatic and difficult shift to remote school for kids, and protecting their families from Covid-19.

And the joy that parents like me felt this week has yet to extend to too much of the world, where access to Covid-19 vaccines remains elusive for children as well as adults.

In addition to being a doctor and a parent, I also head Seed Global Health, a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve health around the world by ensuring no country lacks the doctors, nurses, and midwives needed to care for individuals and communities. Yet every day in our work, we see historic inequities and injustices in health play out just like this vaccine rollout.

Countries like Malawi have fewer than one doctor for every 25,000 people (by contrast, the U.S. has 65). In Sierra Leone, a womans lifetime risk of dying during childbirth is 1 in 17. Half of deaths in Uganda could be prevented if emergency care services existed. Here in the United Stateseven though stark health disparities remainmost people dont face these same challenges or lack of options.

So, even as we stand at the pinnacle of vaccinations in the United States, with children as young as five on the precipice of receiving protection, I refuse to accept the growing chasm between countries with resources like ours and every other vulnerable country and person around the world.

It is an unfairand unnecessarydivide.

The World Bank has estimated the cumulative cost of Covid-19 at $16 trillionand counting. In contrast, the International Monetary Fund has estimated the cost to vaccinate every person on this planet at $50 billion.

To be clear, given the choice, every parent should protect their children. I would never argue otherwise. Every family has a right to the safety and security of health that makes education, employment, and opportunity possible. Health is truly fundamental for children to not just survive but to thrive. The problem is that not every family has that option today.

I was raised in a household that emphasized public service, finding ways to courageously address hard challenges, and contributing to those solutions for the greater good. Im raising my own children with values of fairness, service, global citizenship, and a belief in our common humanity.

With innovation, courage, and political will, we can make these values real and translate them into durable change for children in the United States and around the world. We can also cast aside any myopic reasons why such a transformation in health might not be possible: it takes too long; it costs too much; the financial returns are too hard to measure.

Data and the work of many refute these arguments. The World Bank has estimated the cumulative cost of Covid-19 at $16 trillionand counting. In contrast, the International Monetary Fund has estimated the cost to vaccinate every person on this planet at $50 billion. Such investment promises dividends beyond health in development, economic growth, and wellbeing.

The world that every child deserves is not out of reach. Building on the momentum of the Biden Administration convening a Covid-19 summit and world leaders meeting atthe United Nations General Assembly this month, there is a significant opportunity toplace equity and fairnessvalues we should teach our children for a stronger, safer worldat the heart of our global agenda.

Today, parents in certain parts of the world can cheer a closer return to normalcy for their children and communities. Tomorrow, we must move beyond celebration and into action, ensuring that every parent can breathe the same sigh of relief.

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As We Get Even Closer To Covid-19 Vaccines For Young Kids, We Cannot Forget The Rest Of The World - Forbes