Covid-19 poses serious health concerns to people everywhere. Equitable, timely, and affordable access to a safe and effective Covid vaccine will be critical to help protect people’s health.
Some 156 nations have joined a global scheme for fair distribution of future vaccines against Covid-19, an alliance led by the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, but China and the United States did not sign up.
The COVAX Facility is part of COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to #COVID19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, which is co-led by the @CEPIvaccines, @gavi and WHO.
👉🏼 https://t.co/6KyDZ6TWWEpic.twitter.com/n222K5z6hY
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) September 22, 2020
These participating economies will be able to insure themselves against the failure of any individual vaccine candidate and secure successful vaccines in a cost-effective, targeted way.
U.S. government has already secured future supplies through bilateral deals, prompting accusations of selfish behaviour to the detriment of poor countries. China, where the coronavirus began, was also missing on the list of 64 rich nations who joined the so-called COVAX plan to deliver 2 billion vaccine doses around the world by the end of 2021, prioritising healthcare workers and the vulnerable.
The scheme would account for about two-thirds of the world population, according to the WHO and GAVI vaccine alliance, which published the list of signatories after a deadline for binding commitments expired on Friday.
“COVAX is now in business: governments from every continent have chosen to work together, not only to secure vaccines for their own populations, but also to help ensure that vaccines are available to the most vulnerable everywhere,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is coordinating the COVAX Facility.
Dozens of vaccines are in testing for the coronavirus which has infected about 31 million people globally and killed nearly 1 million, a fifth of those in the United States.
‘THIS IS NOT CHARITY’
“Vaccine nationalism will only perpetuate the disease and prolong the global recovery. Working together through the COVAX Facility is not charity, it’s in every country’s own best interests to control the pandemic and accelerate the global economic recovery,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a virtual briefing.
“We sink or we swim together … This is not just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do,” he added
Media briefing on #COVID19 with @DrTedros https://t.co/ySvMHrTPIc
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) September 21, 2020
“This is a landmark moment in the history of public health with the international community coming together to tackle this pandemic. The global spread of Covid-19 means that it is only through equitable and simultaneous access to new lifesaving Covid-19 vaccines that we can hope to end this pandemic”, said Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI.
With some wealthier nations reticent over COVAX, the plan has highlighted the challenge of distributing vaccines equitably around a world of haves and have-nots.
The vaccine alliance said it expected another 38 wealthy countries to join the initiative in coming days. It said it had received commitments for $1.4 billion towards vaccine research and development, but a further $700 million-$800 million was urgently needed.
The alliance did not say which countries were providing funding while not planning to take supply of vaccines from the scheme. France and Germany have said they will only source potential shots via the European joint procurement scheme.
More than 150 potential vaccines are being developed and tested globally, with 38 in human trials.
The Access to Covid-19 Tools ACT-Accelerator, is a new, ground-breaking global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to Covid-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines.