New COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are trending downward as the world hits the milestone of 10 billion COVID-19 vaccinations distributed, thanks to the overwhelming success of the scientific community and public health agencies. Despite the lingering mistrust of the technology amidst still a considerable number of unvaccinated individuals, by all measures, this was an unprecedented global moment as potentially the most significant scientific achievement of our lifetime.
Although a noteworthy accomplishment and what should feel like a relief, the scientific community caution not to take the current downtrend of the pandemic as our final triumph. More than 60% of the world's population – approximately 4.8 billion people – is at least partially vaccinated with one of the 20+ approved COVID-19 vaccines. However, scientists claim we can't feel entirely out of the woods as just 5.5% of people in low-income countries have received two doses, favoring the risk of new SARS-CoV-2 variants emerging from poorly vaccinated populations.
Rapid scaling-up of new life-saving technology brought us to today's relief. Scientists reiterate the importance of vaccination and encourage increased global cooperation to minimize the inequities in vaccine distribution and pandemic surveillance.
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