The beginning of the end of this global crisis is in sight. Covid-19 vaccine candidates are edging closer to distribution and use. To have reached this point so quickly is remarkable; developing a vaccine and being in a position to produce doses at scale normally takes more than a decade. For Covid-19, the first efficacy results were reported around 300 days after the genome of the novel organism was published. We got this far largely because of an unprecedented show of global solidarity, with the international community rallying to accelerate vaccine development. But this crisis won’t end until all those at risk around the world are vaccinated. It’s time for the manufacturers to step up and finish the job.
We will not be able to reboot the global economy until people in all nations are protected from this virus. Otherwise, Covid-19 will keep circulating, and the opportunity to resume normal life, business, trade, and travel will continue to evade us. Rapid, fair, and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines is the only way to avoid repeated resurgences, but that’s not how distribution and access normally work with new vaccines. Typically, wealthy countries are first in line and, at an early stage, supply is limited.
Coordinated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; and the World Health Organization, Covax was created to address precisely this challenge. Besides accelerating Covid-19 vaccine development, the purpose of Covax is to ensure that we end up with a large and diverse supply of vaccines and, critically, to make sure that people in all countries get them, regardless of their ability to pay. With 189 governments and economies now involved, representing about 90% of the global population, the initial aim is to make two billion doses available by the end of 2021, with roughly half of these going to people in 92 low- and middle-income countries.
A key part of realizing that plan has involved providing support to companies, to convince them to take the unprecedented step of investing in the production and scaling up of 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 still might not get approval. But by sharing these risks and taking the steps needed to be ready to produce large volumes of doses as soon as licenses are granted, it should be possible to hit the ground running and protect people across the world as quickly as possible.
But now that we have reached this critical point, with manufacturers on the cusp of making their vaccines available, the world needs them to do their part to achieve this vision. Given the pandemic’s cost to the global economy—more than $500 billion a month— any delay will not just cost countless more lives and human suffering, but will also prolong the economic misery.
If, when vaccines do become available, manufacturers lose sight of this and prioritize doses to the highest bidder, then that is guaranteed. Because to end this crisis, we don’t just need to make vaccines available to those at risk everywhere, but that access needs to be rapid and fair, as well. Modeling done at Northeastern University shows that you can get double the impact by distributing vaccines equitably. So, unless manufacturers make their vaccines affordable, appropriate for global rollout, and available to Covax for timely delivery as early as possible in 2021, this crisis will continue.
Some, like AstraZeneca, are playing their part. That company has guaranteed hundreds of millions of doses of its vaccine once it is licensed or has received World Health Organization prequalification. Similarly, a technology transfer to the Serum Institute of India will lead to production of hundreds of millions more doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, or one being developed by Novavax, once approved, to people in low- and middle-income countries through Covax. They will cost at most $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 across the world, we’ll need more, quickly. This pandemic requires a global solution, and with the world now so tantalizingly close to a turning point, vaccine manufacturers—both in developed and developing countries—have an essential part to play in making that happen.
They have already done a formidable job in helping to get us this far. But now we need all of them to get on board and be part of that global solution.
Seth Berkley is the CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Email: editors@barrons.com
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJhcnJvbnMuY29tL2FydGljbGVzL3NldGgtYmVya2xleS12YWNjaW5lLW1hbnVmYWN0dXJlcnMtbmVlZC10by1zdGVwLXVwLW9uLWFmZm9yZGFiaWxpdHktNTE2MDY1MDI3ODXSAXRodHRwczovL3d3dy5iYXJyb25zLmNvbS9hbXAvYXJ0aWNsZXMvc2V0aC1iZXJrbGV5LXZhY2NpbmUtbWFudWZhY3R1cmVycy1uZWVkLXRvLXN0ZXAtdXAtb24tYWZmb3JkYWJpbGl0eS01MTYwNjUwMjc4NQ?oc=5
2020-11-27 18:46:00Z
CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJhcnJvbnMuY29tL2FydGljbGVzL3NldGgtYmVya2xleS12YWNjaW5lLW1hbnVmYWN0dXJlcnMtbmVlZC10by1zdGVwLXVwLW9uLWFmZm9yZGFiaWxpdHktNTE2MDY1MDI3ODXSAXRodHRwczovL3d3dy5iYXJyb25zLmNvbS9hbXAvYXJ0aWNsZXMvc2V0aC1iZXJrbGV5LXZhY2NpbmUtbWFudWZhY3R1cmVycy1uZWVkLXRvLXN0ZXAtdXAtb24tYWZmb3JkYWJpbGl0eS01MTYwNjUwMjc4NQ
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