UN vaccine plan underway but problems remain

Why is Covax necessary?

Not all countries can afford their own Covid-19 vaccines, and in past pandemics, including the 2009 swine flu pandemic, vaccines were hoarded by rich countries until the outbreak ended. During the HIV crisis, life-saving treatments were made available in Africa only years after they were introduced in the West.

Beyond the moral duty of sharing vaccines broadly, scientists have warned that allowing the coronavirus to spread freely in any population is a global risk because that could lead to dangerous new variants that could then spread — even in people who had already had the virus or who had been vaccinated against it.

Why hasn’t Covax moved faster?

There aren’t enough vaccines. The world’s supply of Covid-19 vaccines is extremely limited — companies are struggling to make more — and experts predict there won’t be enough shots to cover the global population until 2023 or 2024.

While middle- and high-income countries have reserved more than five billion doses, Covax has signed deals to obtain more than a billion vaccines — but not all of those deals are legally binding.

The initiative has received billions of dollars in funding, but WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out this week that money is almost meaningless if there are no vaccines to buy. He pleaded with rich countries not to strike further deals to secure additional vaccines since that might jeopardise the deals Covax already has.

Covax was also unable to start shipping out any vaccines until they were granted an emergency use approval by WHO. Only two vaccines have received that green light so far, the shots made by Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca/Oxford. The AstraZeneca doses make up the bulk of the shots Covax has deals for and was only authorised last week.

Unlike in past outbreaks, when poorer countries have waited for vaccines to be sent by aid agencies, these delays have led numerous developing countries to strike their own private deals outside of Covax.

What are rich countries doing to help?

Although the Group of Seven, a club of major economic powers, promised to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines and pledged US$7.5 billion for Covax, there have been few details from countries including Britain, Germany and France about when they would be willing to donate any of their excess shots.

While French President Emmanuel Macron promised to donate 5 per cent of vaccines to Covax, British Foreign Minister James Cleverly said it was “difficult to say with any kind of certainty” when or how much Britain could donate.

Several wealthier countries have come under fire for buying up huge quantities of vaccines — the UK, for instance, has deals for enough to cover its population more than five times over. The countries have defended themselves by noting that they had to make the agreements before they knew which vaccines would work — and, often, by promising to donate excess vaccines.

Other rich countries, such as Canada, New Zealand and Singapore, have applied to receive vaccines through Covax even though they have their own supplies. WHO has said those requests will be fulfilled since part of Covax’s goal was to allow rich countries to buy a wider range of vaccines.