Poor nations could miss out in virus vaccine race
Wealthy countries rush to place advance orders in scramble for limited stock
As the race intensifies for a vaccine against the new coronavirus, wealthy countries are rushing to place advance orders for the inevitably limited supply to guarantee their citizens get immunised first — leaving significant questions about whether developing countries will get any vaccines in time to save lives.
Earlier this month, the United Nations, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, and others said it was a “moral imperative” that everyone have access to a “people’s vaccine”. But such grand declarations are unenforceable, and without a detailed strategy, the allocation of vaccines could be inequitable and extremely messy, said health experts.
“We have this beautiful picture of everyone getting the vaccine, but there is no road map on how to do it,” said Yuan Qiong Hu, a senior legal and policy adviser at Doctors Without Borders in Geneva. Few measures have been taken to resolve numerous problems for achieve fair distribution, she said.
In the past, Hu said, companies have often applied for patents for nearly every step of a vaccine’s development and production: from the biological material like cell lines used, to the preservative needed to stretch vaccine doses and even how the shots are administered. “We can’t afford to face these multiple layers of private rights to create a ‘people’s vaccine’.”
Speaking at a vaccine summit earlier this month that addressed the thorny issue of equitable distribution, Ghanaian President Nana AkufoAddo agreed.
“Only a people’s vaccine with equality and solidarity at its core can protect all of humanity from the virus,” he said.
At a summit with African leaders on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said countries in Africa would be “among the first to benefit” once a Covid-19 vaccine is developed and deployed in China, but no deals were announced to back up his promise.
Worldwide, about a dozen potential Covid-19 vaccines are in early stages of testing. While some could move into late-stage testing later this year if all goes well, it’s unlikely any would be licensed before early next year at the earliest. Still, numerous rich countries have already ordered some of these experimental shots and expect delivery even before they are granted marketing approval.
Britain and the US have spent millions of dollars on vaccine candidates, including one being developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca. In return, both countries are expected to get priority treatment; the British government declared that the first 30 million doses would be for Britons.
Separately AstraZeneca signed an agreement to make at least 300 million doses available for the US, with the first batches delivered as early as October.
Last week, the European Union moved to ensure its own supply. AstraZeneca struck a deal with a vaccines group forged by Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands to secure 400 million doses by the end of the year.
Among several global efforts underway to try to ensure developing countries don’t get left behind is an “advance market commitment” from the vaccines alliance GAVI, whose CEO has warned countries about the dangers of vaccines not being available globally.
“Even if a few countries go ahead and have vaccines, if there are raging outbreaks in other places . . . that is going to continue to threaten the world and the return to normality,” said Seth Berkley, the GAVI CEO.
The World Health Organisation and others have called for a Covid-19 “patents pool”, where intellectual property rights would be surrendered so pharmaceuticals could freely share data and technical knowledge. Numerous countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada and Germany have already begun revising their licensing laws to allow them to suspend intellectual property rights if authorities decide there is an overwhelming need given the pandemic.
But the response from the industry has been lukewarm.
Executives at Pfizer and some other major drug makers say they oppose suspending patent rights for potential Covid-19 vaccines.
Health officials worry what that might mean for divvying up supplies of a vaccine arguably needed by every country on the planet.
“We can’t just rely on goodwill to ensure access,” said Arzoo Ahmed, of Britain’s Nuffield Council on Bioethics. “With HIV/Aids, it took 10 years for the drugs to reach people in lower-income countries.”
African nations have already been at the back of the line for medical supplies in the pandemic and “it will be worse if a vaccine is found,” UNAids chief Winnie Byanyima said. “We can’t afford to be in the back of the queue.”