Will anti-vaccine activism in the USA reverse global goals?

This anti-vaccine activism that is now linked to health freedom politics has helped to amplify anti-vaccine sentiment in other countries. This explains in part the ‘freedom convoy’ anti-vaccine protests in Canada, and anti-mask and anti-vaccine rallies held in the UK and western European capitals during the pandemic. Moreover, there are reports on how vaccine refusal extends beyond COVID-19 vaccines to include parents refusing routine childhood or school-entry vaccinations for their children4.

A central concern is whether anti-vaccine activism from the USA will detrimentally effect the world’s low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). For two decades, under the auspices of the ‘Global Goals’ (initially the ‘Millennium Development Goals’ followed by ‘Sustainable Development Goals’), tremendous strides have been made in reducing deaths and morbidity from measles, polio, pertussis and other dangerous illnesses that can be prevented by vaccination5. The fear is that globalizing anti-vaccine activism might reverse these trends. A successful vaccine ecosystem led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and its United Nations partners, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, is under threat.

Even before the emergence of COVID-19, the WHO listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten global health threats, including in LMICs6. Now, in this time of the pandemic, the WHO notes further significant ‘backsliding’ of routine childhood immunizations. In terms of COVID-19 vaccinations, African nations exhibit the lowest rates globally. Only 8% of the population of Nigeria, 18% of Kenya and 24% of Uganda are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Although access accounts for most of the vaccine inequality, vaccine refusal has become a considerable problem, according to some reports7.

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