‘COVAX Facility aims to deliver two billion doses by the end of 2021’
POONAM KHETRAPAL SINGH, WHO Regional Director
Several experimental vaccines for Covid-19 are in final-stage clinical trials and early results from two of them have established safety levels and immune response. With vaccines expected to be ready by early 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently launched the COVAX Facility as a mechanism to guarantee rapid, fair, and equitable access to countries to a broad portfolio of vaccines and manufacturers to a demand-secure market. Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, spoke to
Sanchita Sharma about the facility and how it aims to deliver two billion doses by 2021-end to prioritised population groups. Edited excerpts:
When is the earliest the world can expect a Covid-19 vaccine to be ready?
There are promising results from the clinical trials for some vaccine candidates, which is very encouraging. However, we need to wait for the completion of the trials and their outcomes to be in a better position to understand by when the vaccines will be ready. It is important the potential vaccines meet the recommended mandatory standards of efficacy and safety before they are used for mass vaccination.
WHO is working globally with partners to accelerate research and development of a safe and effective vaccine and ensure equitable access for the billions of people who will need it. But even with an accelerated process, the development and production of a vaccine will take time.
How will WHO ensure equitable access to vaccines, especially in low- and middle-income countries?
WHO is committed to and will continue to advocate countries to ensure that as medicines and vaccines are developed, they are shared equitably with all countries and people. In April 2020, a global collaboration of governments, global health organisations, civil society groups, businesses, and philanthropies came together to form the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator, or the ACT-Accelerator. The idea is to form a plan for an equitable response to the Covid-19 pandemic. There are four pillars under the ACT-Accelerator, of which vaccines are one.
COVAX Facility has been established recently under the vaccine pillar of the ACTAccelerator to manage the large, diverse portfolio of Covid-19 vaccines that are under development to ensure a global sharing of risks, associated with the development of Covid-19 vaccines and equitable access based on a fair allocation of the available vaccines. The facility is a mechanism designed to guarantee rapid, fair, and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines worldwide. By connecting a pool of demand to a pool of supply, it will allow countries access to a broad portfolio of Covid-19 vaccines and provide manufacturers access to a demand-secure market. All countries have been invited to participate, and those that will are expected to receive access to vaccines procured by the facility at the negotiated price. The facility aims to deliver two billion doses by the end of 2021 to prioritised population groups in all participating countries.
What will be India’s role in vaccine development?
India is among the largest vaccine manufacturers and is rightly called the world’s pharmacy. It is also home to many research institutes and experts. Undoubtedly, they would play an important role in making the Covid-19 vaccines available globally.
WHO convened a meeting of vaccine manufacturers from South-East Asia Region on April 29 to get a landscape of the development and manufacture of potential Covid-19 vaccines. Twelve vaccine manufacturers from India, Indonesia, and Thailand participated in the meeting and shared their collaborations with vaccine developers, platforms likely to be used by them to develop the vaccines, potential timelines, and capacities for vaccine production.