Can a pandemic treaty end vaccine inequity in Africa?

A quarter of the global population remains unvaccinated for COVID-19, five years after the virus emerged.

During the pandemic, African countries were among the last to receive life-saving medicines because powerful nations control vaccine stockpiles.

This “vaccine apartheid” fuels distrust in expensive Western-made vaccines.

Senegal and other African nations will produce more of their own vaccines to protect the disease-prone continent.

A pandemic treaty being negotiated at the World Health Organization could also help Global South nations better prepare for outbreaks.

Episode 1 of Flatten the Curve, a new series on pandemic preparedness, explores the fight to end vaccine inequity.