Developing public-private partnerships to address health inequities

The pandemic has exposed long-standing inequalities in healthcare and created a stark contrast between the haves and have-nots. At the country-level, developing countries still do not have enough COVID-19 vaccine to cover the majority of its population. Within developed countries and specifically in underserved communities, vaccine hesitancy remains high and COVID-19 vaccination rates remain low. While several factors contribute to vaccine hesitancy, such as awareness and education, perhaps one of the more difficult ones to overcome is the deep and long-standing distrust of government, public health, and the scientific community that many in underserved areas share. (author abstract)