Vaccine distribution and administration is a “two-speed” situation: the map is always the same with low-income countries on one side and the global north on the other. “Solidarity,” “Ethical Obligation,” and “Safety for All” should be the guiding concepts to guarantee equity of access to health.

Stumbling in the darkness of the third wave and its aftermath, Africa today is showing a drastic increase in cases of Covid-19 infection in many of its countries, showing signs of overburdened hospitals and growing deaths. The vaccination numbers are still too low, due to a shortage of vaccines but also due to logistical, distribution, and diffidence on the part of the population.

The pandemic will be remembered for the lack of quick decision-making despite many authorities urging a rapid global vaccination program. This inertia has led to imbalances between global north and south, worldwide and locally, forgetting that the universal nature of the emergency should be met by a universal response.

Striving for an equitable distribution of vaccines as a form of “intelligent solidarity”: this is not just out of a powerful sense of social justice but out of an ever-growing awareness of how much each of our lives — whether we’re African, Italian, Asian — are connected to each other, in a collective perspective that reminds us that to save ourselves, we need to take a common path.