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Illustration by Luke Brooks.
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The beginning of the end of this global crisis is in sight. Candidates for the Covid-19 vaccine are getting closer to distribution and use. To have reached this point so quickly is remarkable; Developing a vaccine and being able to produce large-scale doses typically takes more than a decade. For Covid-19, the first efficacy results were reported around 300 days after the genome of the new organism was published. We got this far in large part thanks to an unprecedented display of global solidarity, with the international community coming together to accelerate vaccine development. But this crisis won’t end until everyone at risk around the world is vaccinated. It’s time for manufacturers to step up and get the job done.
We will not be able to restart the global economy until the people of all nations are protected from this virus. Otherwise, Covid-19 will continue to circulate and the opportunity to resume normal life, business, commerce, and travel will continue to elude us. Prompt, fair and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines is the only way to avoid repeat resurgences, but this is not how distribution and access normally work with new vaccines. Rich countries are usually first in line, and supply is limited at an early stage.
Coordinated by Gavi, Vaccine Alliance; the Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness; and the World Health Organization, Covax was created to address precisely this challenge. In addition to accelerating the development of the Covid-19 vaccine, Covax’s purpose is to ensure that we end up with a large and diverse supply of vaccines and, more importantly, to ensure that people in all countries get them, regardless of your ability to pay. With 189 governments and economies now involved, representing about 90% of the world’s population, the initial goal is to make two billion doses available by the end of 2021, and about half of these will go to people in 92 countries. low and middle income. .
A key part of realizing that plan has been supporting companies to convince them to take the unprecedented step of investing in production and increasing manufacturing capacity before their vaccines are licensed. Given the substantial investments involved, this can be risky. Even if a vaccine makes it to clinical trials, it may not yet get approved. But by sharing these risks and taking the necessary steps to be ready to produce large volumes of doses as soon as licenses are granted, it should be possible to get to work and protect people around the world as quickly as possible.
But now that we’ve reached this critical point, with manufacturers about to make their vaccines available, the world needs you to do your part to achieve this vision. Given the pandemic’s cost to the world economy – more than $ 500 billion a month – any delay will not only cost countless lives and human suffering, but will also prolong economic misery.
If, when vaccines are available, manufacturers lose sight of this and prioritize doses to the highest bidder, then that’s guaranteed. Because to end this crisis, we not only need to make vaccines available to people at risk everywhere, but access must also be fast and fair. The modeling done at Northeastern University shows that you can get double the impact if you distribute vaccines fairly. Therefore, unless manufacturers make their vaccines affordable, appropriate for global deployment, and available to Covax for timely delivery as soon as possible in 2021, this crisis will continue.
Something like
AstraZeneca,
they are playing their part. That company has guaranteed hundreds of millions of doses of its vaccine once it is licensed or prequalified by the World Health Organization. Similarly, a technology transfer to the Serum Institute of India will lead to the production of hundreds of millions more doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, or one being developed by
Novavax,
once approved, to people in low- and middle-income countries through Covax. They cost a maximum of $ 3 a dose. These deals and others mean that Covax is approaching close to a billion doses.
But to end this acute phase of the pandemic around the world, we will need more, quickly. This pandemic requires a global solution, and with the world now so tantalizingly close to a tipping point, vaccine manufacturers, in developed and developing countries alike, have an essential role to play in making that happen.
They’ve already done a tremendous job helping us get this far. But now we need everyone to join in and be part of that global solution.
Seth Berkley is the CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Email: [email protected]
