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In race for vaccines, rich nations bag biggest deals
While developed economies have already committed an undisclosed amount of money as upfront payment for the producers, developing nations are likely to need to depend on an international effort led by WHO called Covax.
Wealthy countries have leapfrogged the rest of the world in striking supply deals with the manufacturers of some Covid-19 vaccine candidates, according to a report by Nature that said low- and middle-income countries such as India could find themselves in a longer waiting list for shots for their populations.
There are 31 vaccine candidates in human trials, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Draft Landscape compilation. The front runners from among these are candidates by Oxford/AstraZeneca (UK), Moderna (US), Pfizer/BioNTech (Germany) and Johnson & Johnson.
The United States has secured 800 million doses from six manufacturers, UK has purchased 340 million, and the European Union nations and Japan have struck deals for hundreds of millions, the report said, citing data from scientific information and analytics firm Airfinity.
While developed economies have already committed an undisclosed amount of money as upfront payment for the producers, developing nations are likely to need to depend on an international effort led by WHO called Covax.
In the case of the Oxford vaccine, which is largely considered the one at the most advanced stage of testing and thus possibly the first to reach conclusive results, almost 2.4 billion doses have been purchased by various countries (including an international effort involving developing nations). This 2.4 billion is of the 2.94 billion supply capacity estimated till 2021, according to the report published on August 24.
In India’s case, however, vaccine supplies may be helped by the fact that some of the world’s biggest vaccine-makers are based in the country. Officials of Serum Institute of India (SII) have indicated at least half of their promised deliveries by the end of the year may be kept aside for India, and that the government could invoke further emergency clauses to secure more doses.
Covax involves Geneva-based funder of vaccines called Gavi and CEPI and it aims to secure 2 billion doses. Of these, one billion are for 92 low- and middle-income countries (LMICS), which encompass half the world’s population. The vaccines will cost these regions little or nothing. The other billion is for up to 75 wealthier countries, who will pay for their own vaccines, the Nature reported.
WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing on August 18 that the world must prevent “vaccine nationalism”. Nature quoted Mark Feinberg, the head of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative in New York: “We’re not going to get rid of the pandemic until we get rid of it everywhere”.
