Vaccinating the global poor is really important

Current U.S. funding commitments are woefully inadequate

(Photo by ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP via Getty Images)

Since I published “Approve the AstraZeneca Vaccine” on February 16, the vaccine supply situation in the United States has improved for the better in fairly dramatic and visible ways.

At the same time, it’s still the case that I and millions of other eager-to-be-vaccinated Americans still can’t get an appointment for the shot (European countries seem to be hastily suspending the use of AZ due to blood clot fears that have no statistical basis that I can see). Tens of thousands of people have died since I wrote that post, and while it’s of course not the case that they all could have been saved with prompt approval of the AZ vaccine, some of them could have been. The Biden administration now believes that by May 1, it will be prudent to let anyone who wants a vaccine just go sign up for one, but that doesn’t mean they think vaccines will be universally available by then. Nonetheless, I’m fairly optimistic that thanks to vaccine prioritizatio…