ABSTRACT
Borders have also separated the haves from the have-nots when accessing COVID-19 vaccines. Early in the pandemic, many countries espoused global vaccine equity; sadly, such sentiments rapidly gave way to rampant vaccine nationalism. Canada, for instance, would notoriously secure the world’s most doses per capita by November of 2020; it would not even commit to sharing a single dose from its eight bilateral contracts until July of 2021. Outcompeted for scare doses by wealthy countries, COVAX, the international mechanism intended to promote equitable access, fell far short of its initial goals, a plight exacerbated by its own design flaws. Meanwhile, even as Canada claimed more than its share of the global supply, it proved reluctant to take steps to increase that supply, whether at the World Trade Organization or via using existing domestic legal tools. Had rhetoric matched reality, the global gap in access might have been narrowed and lives saved.
