Welcome to Pandemica. It’s a never-ending pandemic purgatory, where COVID-19 never goes away, but continues to mutate and cross borders. It’s the most deadly place on earth, where twice as many people die, the global economy loses an additional US$9.2 trillion, and life as we once knew it does not return for anyone. Sound familiar?
We’re all in Pandemica. To escape, we need to act now. Having safe and effective vaccines within a year of the first reported COVID-19 cases is a historic scientific achievement. But if the vaccine isn’t everywhere, this pandemic isn’t going anywhere.
What is “Pandemica?”
“Pandemica” is a new animated content series from ONE to raise awareness and explain the critical importance of getting vaccines to all countries as quickly as possible. It’s an animated world full of creatures and critters living in a COVID-19 purgatory — illustrating the realities for people in low-income countries as they wait to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Watch the episodes now to explore just why Pandemica is truly the worst.
With illustrations by artist Andrew Rae and voiceovers from our talent friends you may have seen in ONE’s previous work like ONE co-founder Bono, Penélope Cruz, Danai Gurira, David Oyelowo, and more, the series is a reminder of why we all need to support efforts to get vaccines to everyone, everywhere.
What’s it like living in Pandemica?
Pandemica may not be a real place — but for billions of people, it’s a reality. Right now, less than 1% of doses administered globally have gone to people in low-income countries while a handful of wealthy countries have enough vaccines to inoculate their entire populations and still have more than 1 billion doses left over.
This vaccine hoarding by high-income countries could result in more than 60% of the world’s population — or 4.68 billion people — not having access to a COVID-19 vaccine until 2022 or later.
And don’t think you’re safe just because you live in a nation where you can get a vaccine. There are over 4,000 variants of COVID-19 and some are more transmissible than other strains. The longer we allow this virus to thrive anywhere, the more it can mutate, putting everyone at risk of living in Pandemica.
Pandemica also comes with a steep price tag, no matter where you live. Unequal vaccine distribution costs the world economy US$9.2 trillion. And if the lowest-income countries are initially excluded from the vaccine, high-income countries’ economies will bear 75% of the global economic loss.
How do we avoid Pandemica?
The pandemic will only end when the people who need the vaccine the most have access to it, regardless of where they live.
If rich countries continue to buy up the first available doses of the vaccines and prevent their distribution across the world, the pandemic will last much longer. This will allow the virus to thrive and mutate and continue to spread across borders and threaten us all. Instead, we need a global plan to distribute vaccines.
A handful of rich countries have bought up enough COVID-19 vaccine doses to vaccinate their entire populations almost three times over. Tell these governments to urgently share their surplus doses with countries in need.
Our Vaccine Access Test is a great resource to understand and watch how countries and world leaders are either moving us closer to or further from an equitable outcome for the pandemic. Find out how your country has scored.
Pandemica is illustrated by artist Andrew Rae with animation by Titmouse and music & sound design by father, and created and produced in partnership with hive.
