Vaccine Photo: VCG
Some high-income countries have picked up about 70 percent of the coronavirus vaccines that would be available in 2021, which, along with other issues such as manufacturing capacity, would pose a major threat to equal and timely global vaccine supplies, according to a recent report on The Lancet.
The report, published online Friday, said governments in high-income countries, which represent 16 percent of the world’s population, have placed pre-orders for at least 4.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, making at least 70 percent of the doses. available in 2021 from five candidates.
While COVAX tries to ensure that no country can vaccinate more than 20 percent of the population until all countries have vaccinated 20 percent of their population, in accordance with the principles of global equality, many high-income countries have bypassed COVAX and in instead tried to gain priority access to copious amounts of COVID-19 vaccines sufficient to vaccinate their population multiple times.
According to vaccine contracts tracked by Duke University, as of Feb. 8, the EU has ordered enough doses to vaccinate its people more than twice, and Canada has about five times more than is needed if each person needs two doses. The US has picked up 2.6 billion doses, nearly a quarter of the world’s supply to date – to cover 396 percent of the population.
Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based vaccine expert, previously told the Global Times that it is normal for rich countries to bypass COVAX and buy vaccines directly from the manufacturers in advance.
“But it is not necessary to make vaccines. It will take a country weeks or even months to give millions of doses. If rich countries are willing to share extra doses that they wouldn’t use in a month with developing countries, the situation will be much better for the latter, ”suggested Tao.
One problem, however, is that COVAX is supported by international organizations such as WHO, but these international organizations have no executive power over any country, so getting rich countries to follow COVAX guidelines is difficult, Tao said.
For COVAX to succeed, The Lancet report said it would need significant funding to purchase vaccines. As of February 2021, governments and other partners have pledged about $ 4 billion in funding for COVAX, but Gavi and WHO estimate that COVAX will need an additional $ 6.8 billion to purchase at least 2 billion doses by the end of 2021 and deliver.
Zhuang Shilihe, a vaccine expert from Guangzhou, told the Global Times that vaccine distribution has more to do with countries’ ability to purchase them. Vaccines naturally go to rich countries who could pay the bill as poor countries strive for vaccines through COVAX.
COVAX is an ideal scheme that will balance the global distribution of vaccines, but multiple factors, such as poor countries’ lack of funding to purchase vaccines, means the scheme cannot function on time, Zhuang said.
The fundamental question is the shortage of vaccine supply, the expert said, adding that unbalanced vaccine distribution may not be addressed by 2021.
A successful solution to the manufacturing bottleneck would likely require a broad technology transfer to expand manufacturing capacity, the Friday Lancet report said.
Currently, few countries have the domestic capacity to rapidly produce COVID-19 vaccines independently and will instead need companies to actively share knowledge, technology and data with domestic manufacturers, the report said.
Some leading vaccine developers have established such partnerships with manufacturers in middle and low-income countries.
Chinese producer Sinovac previously told the Global Times that it now exports semi-finished products to countries that can fill and package doses. It not only relieves pressure on Chinese manufacturing facilities, but also saves international transportation costs and significantly improves vaccine affordability.
Zhang warned that the worst outcome of the situation is that some countries could issue mandatory approval to catch up with demand for vaccines, such as generics in India. “This can happen if some countries struggle to get vaccines.”
Chinese experts said China is open to technology sharing and transfer, but one problem is that not all countries may be able to set up a production line.
The Global Times has learned from Chinese vaccine makers that the inactivated vaccine production line consists of two parts: a virus breeding workshop and a thorough preparation workshop.
During the procedure, there are hundreds of items that must be tested to ensure the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
Every step of the vaccine production must be performed in workshops that have obtained Good Manufacturing Practice certificates. Countries without such workshops would not be able to guarantee the quality of the vaccines they produce, Feng Duojia, chairman of the China Vaccine Industry Association, previously told the Global Times.
The high cost of building coronavirus vaccine production lines would also prevent some countries from producing vaccines themselves, preferring to wait for COVAX allotment or buy injections from other countries, experts said.
Transferring technology to produce vaccines could be a solution to balance the global distribution of vaccines, and it may be better to transfer technology to countries capable of starting large-scale production to compensate for vaccine shortages, a Beijing-based immunologist who asked for anonymity said the Global Times on Sunday.