Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic back in March 2020, the virus has claimed more than 2.5 million lives globally with upwards of 113 million cases being confirmed by laboratory tests (March 2021).
The pandemic has impacted almost every corner of life, causing global economies to stall, changing the way we work and interact with our loved ones, and stretching healthcare systems to the limit. Governments around the world have been forced to implement harsh restrictions on human activity to curb the spread of the virus.
COVID-19 vaccination is now offering a way to transition out of this phase of the pandemic. Without them, many scientists believe that natural herd immunity would not have been sufficient to restore society to its normal status quo and that it would have resulted in extreme fatality. This is something that has been echoed by many health organizations including the WHO. In a scenario without access to vaccines, strict behavioral measures may have had to remain for the foreseeable future.
Fortunately, the beginning of 2021 saw numerous vaccines given emergency approval and begin their roll out in countries across the world. As of March 2021, just shy of 300 million vaccine doses had been administered worldwide. The figures give hope of a return to ‘normal’. However, global COVID-19 vaccination faces several challenges which may impact its success.
