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Partnerships and Collaborations
Published in Kelly H. Zou, Lobna A. Salem, Amrit Ray, Real-World Evidence in a Patient-Centric Digital Era, 2023
Salman Rizvi, Urooj A. Siddiqui
Interest in fair and equitable access to a potential COVID-19 vaccine has stimulated collaboration between global agencies and more than 150 countries. The COVAX facility is a key part of the global collaboration initiated for the development and access of COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines. COVAX is jointly led by Gavi, the international public-private partnership, the foundation Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO). As a part of the COVAX mechanism, 75 countries have agreed to finance vaccine distribution in their own country, as well as support up to 90 low-income countries through donations. This represents more than 60% of the global population. This partnership ensures that poorer nations are also provided with access to treatments and vaccines, unlike the situation seen during the H1N1 pandemic 10 years ago (WHO, 2020b).
SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19
Published in Patricia G. Melloy, Viruses and Society, 2023
It is important to note that many people in the world are still waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine. As COVID-19 vaccines were beginning to be developed, the WHO took an interest in creating a program to support the development of new vaccines and ensure equitable distribution of vaccine throughout the world, emphasizing that vaccinating all the people of the world against SARS-CoV-2 will be necessary to keep everyone safe. That program, known as the COVAX program, is a partnership with Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the WHO, and will involve UNICEF for vaccine distribution (WHO 2021b). As of fall 2021, when many vaccinated adults in the United States started seeking out booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, the WHO urged caution in distributing booster shots, considering all the people of the world who still needed their first dose (WHO 2021c). As of December 2021, 58.4% of the people of the world had received at least one dose of the vaccine, although there are many countries in the world, including in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, where the percentage was much lower (Holder 2021). In Chapter 8 on public health and viruses, we will discuss how a plan to equitably distribute a vaccine in a population can be created.
COVID-19 and Global Public Goods
Published in Rui Nunes, Healthcare as a Universal Human Right, 2022
For instance, it should be determined whether COVID-19 vaccination should be mandatory to increase vaccination rates, or if values such as liberty and autonomy should imply a global campaign of health literacy and education showing people the benefit to individuals, families, and societies of getting all people vaccinated to protect the well-being of individuals or communities (World Health Organization 2021). However, vaccination should be considered a global public good. This means that efforts should be made to overcome the huge disparities in the global distribution of vaccines enrolling both international institutions and other international players such as private corporations, not-for-profit corporations, and even nongovernmental organizations. The international initiative to promote equitable access to vaccination, COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), enrolling partners such as coalition for epidemic preparedness innovations (CEPI), the vaccine alliance (GAVI), the world health organization (WHO), and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), is an example of a coordinated international support for global health.
Access to COVID-19 vaccines and testing in Africa: the importance of COVAX - Nigeria as a case study
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2023
Rafaella Fortini Queiroz Grenfell, Oyetunde Timothy Oyeyemi
Up to November 15, 2020, of the 48 vaccine candidates submitted for clinical evaluation, 13 manufacturers made pre-market purchase commitments for at least 7.5 billion doses. HICs have reserved 51% of these doses (about 3.9 billion doses), although they represent 14% of the world’s population. The United States of America (USA) has reserved 800 million doses, while accounting for one-fifth of all COVID-19 cases globally. On the other hand, Japan, Australia, and Canada reserved more than a billion doses, although these three countries combined did not represent up to 1% of the reported cases [5]. Of the 13 manufacturers, only six sold to LMICs. COVAX made initial purchases of 300 million doses of vaccine from AstraZeneca/Oxford University [5,17]. A $300 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation secured 200 million additional doses [18]. This amounted to only half of the billion doses for AMC-eligible countries for which funding has been raised, and only a quarter of the at least two billion doses requested by COVAX by the end of 2021. A year later the first pre-market purchase commitments were executed. COVAX has shipped over 435 million vaccines to 144 eligible countries, and about 115 million doses (28%) to 49 African countries [4].
A new definition for global bioethics: COVID-19, a case study
Published in Global Bioethics, 2022
COVAX (the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access initiative) is a promising global arrangement that promises an international collaboration among nations in the attempt to provide access to COVID-19 vaccines to all countries, regardless of income. COVAX is jointly led by three organizations: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the WHO. The aim of this alliance is to coordinate international resources to manage the purchase, supply, and allocation of the vaccines (GAVI, 2020). About 190 countries are involved in this initiative, in which the high-income countries contribute to access to vaccines for LMICs. The goal of COVAX is to provide 2 billion doses of the vaccine by the end of 2021. Despite their stated commitment to this process, several high-income countries began early bilateral negotiations with manufacturers to ensure an adequate supply for themselves. This soon led to bilateral negotiations on the part of some middle-income countries. These developments gave rise to the phrase “vaccine nationalism,” a process in which rich countries bid against one another for contracts with the manufacturers, thereby obtaining sufficient supplies for their own citizens. According to one analysis, high-income countries managed to reserve more than half of the world's 2019 COVID-19 vaccine doses, although they represent only 14% of the world's population (Kuehn, 2021). These developments show that what began as a good-faith effort to allocate vaccines in an equitable manner quickly gave way to self-interested behavior on the part of rich and powerful nations.
Is it still suitable to depend on AstraZeneca for COVID-19 vaccine donations to developing countries?
Published in Current Medical Research and Opinion, 2022
Abdelrahman M. Makram, Van Phu Tran, Randa Elsheikh, Nguyen Thi Hien Hau, Siti Mariam Abd Gani, Nguyen Tien Huy
Among the factors that prevented COVAX from donating the planned 8 billion vaccine doses to low-income countries are the delay of HICs to provide financial support and claiming a large amount of the manufactured vaccines5. Furthermore, a substantial part of the vaccines donated by HICs as a form of support to COVAX had a brief half-life, meaning that by the time of administration many doses had reached the expiry date3. What’s more, COVAX supply to Africa only includes AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), and Moderna and has covered 59% of total doses received. And it was also decided that AstraZeneca, a cheap vaccine, is to be the main vaccine provided by COVAX2,3. Along with COVAX, Africa received its COVID-19 vaccination from Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, BILATERAL, some specific HICs, and other unknown sources12.