Throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, inequities in access to COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics have been vast and persistent. By the end of 2022, only 26% of people in low income countries had received a COVID-19 vaccine dose.1 Less than one in 50 of the three billion diagnostic tests administered globally by March 2022 were performed in low income countries.2 Further, low and middle income countries have had very little access to therapeutics, particularly antivirals such as nirmatrelvir–ritonavir (Paxlovid, Pfizer) and molnupiravir (Lagevrio, Merck Sharpe & Dohme).2
Unless action is taken quickly, the gap in access to antivirals between high and low income countries seems set to repeat the inequities in distributing COVID-19 vaccines.