With all the talk about vaccine equity, how long does it normally take for a new vaccine to be available to countries? 

The discussions about vaccine equity for Covid-19 vaccines have inspired us to think about vaccine equity for vaccines in general. Vaccines are one of the most cost-effective means of reducing mortality and morbidity; therefore, prolonged access gaps are a critical health equity issue. Here we present analysis that explores the length of time and some influencing factors for a vaccine to be introduced in high-income (HIC), middle-income (MIC) and low-income (LIC) countries -revealing interesting trends.

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On a more personal note, when I left UNICEF in 2014, Hib was widely introduced (I had been a part of the early introductions and market dynamics), PCV was ramping up but not yet steady and HPV was just beginning. I have thought some time about doing a retrospective analysis to see what happened over time and the learnings. After coming back to the field of public health after some years, I’m happy to have the chance to put this together and put it out there - to trigger thought and action.

Kindly access the blog post HERE.

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