t was conceived in April 2020 and was touted as the “only truly global solution” to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was organized by some of the biggest names in public health, including Gavi (the vaccine alliance) and the World Health Organization (WHO). And perhaps most importantly, it brought together governments, scientists, manufacturers, and philanthropists to achieve one of the loftiest goals of our era: distributing COVID-19 vaccines to countries all over the world, regardless of wealth. However, many experts are starting to wonder if the COVAX initiative goes far enough in helping lower income countries secure vital immunizations.
Designed in the first year of the pandemic to deliver the world from a rapidly escalating global crisis, the project’s initial goal was to supply two billion COVID-19 vaccines globally to protect at least 20% of the population in 92 lower- to middle-income countries, with richer countries subsidizing poorer countries’ vaccine supplies. In the second year of the pandemic, vaccine hoarding in wealthy countries has hampered the project’s ability to secure doses for countries in need. By March 2021, COVAX had only secured 1.1 billion immunizations, compared to 4.6 billion purchased by wealthier countries. By June, the COVAX initiative was 190 million doses short of its distribution goals.
In addition to falling behind on global goals, some experts wonder why COVAX doesn’t tackle one of the root problems behind uneven global vaccine distribution. “If your problem is you want to have affordable vaccines around the world to cover the majority of the world, then the solution would be free licensing or compulsory licensing. COVAX doesn’t do that,” Sophie Harman, a professor of international politics, told Devex in March 2021. According to experts like Harman, waiving the vaccines’ IP rights could do more to protect low-income countries against COVID-19 in the long run than small numbers of vaccine donations, and COVAX doesn’t address the question of intellectual property law.
Other experts argue that different aspects of vaccine production are more important than who gets the IP rights. In May of this year, when the US joined China and Russia in supporting an IP waiver for COVID-19 vaccines, Prashant Yadav, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, said that the waiver could provide benefits “as part of a larger [aid] package.” However, according to Yadav, the biggest issue threatening the global vaccine supply is manufacturing capability, not intellectual property rights. Much of the world lacks the raw materials and production facilities needed to build up the global vaccine supply, and the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna require skilled expertise that even experienced manufacturers can have difficulty replicating. Ultimately, large countries like the US could do more good if they invested in vaccine manufacturing in lower income countries in addition to sharing the IP rights.
However, while the debate over the efficacy of COVAX rages on, so does the spread of the virus. Currently, global coronavirus cases are on the rise, with parts of Latin American, Africa, and Asia experiencing their worst caseloads in part because of the highly-contagious Delta variant. Although COVAX is falling short of its initial distribution benchmarks and fails to address intellectual property concerns, it is still one important tool the world has at its disposal to help end this crisis. So far, although the initiative has fallen short of its intended donation goals, COVAX has shipped 95 million vaccines to 134 participating countries. As much of the world continues to struggle within the virus’s grasp, wealthy states can take lessons from the slow success of the COVAX project and increase their support of lower- and middle-income countries. Whether that support be through manufacturing support, intellectual property licensing, or vaccine donations, it is on the states who have been successful in vaccinating their populations to now turn to the rest of the world.
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What COVAX Initiative's Failures Teach Us About Vaccinating the World
Image by Pixabay.
July 13, 2021
Conceived as a global initiative to distribute COVID-19 vaccines all over the world regardless of wealth, the COVAX initiative has come under fire for its failures. However, it remains an important part of the fight against the pandemic, and its shortcomings offer lessons for how we can do better.
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t was conceived in April 2020 and was touted as the “only truly global solution” to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was organized by some of the biggest names in public health, including Gavi (the vaccine alliance) and the World Health Organization (WHO). And perhaps most importantly, it brought together governments, scientists, manufacturers, and philanthropists to achieve one of the loftiest goals of our era: distributing COVID-19 vaccines to countries all over the world, regardless of wealth. However, many experts are starting to wonder if the COVAX initiative goes far enough in helping lower income countries secure vital immunizations.
Designed in the first year of the pandemic to deliver the world from a rapidly escalating global crisis, the project’s initial goal was to supply two billion COVID-19 vaccines globally to protect at least 20% of the population in 92 lower- to middle-income countries, with richer countries subsidizing poorer countries’ vaccine supplies. In the second year of the pandemic, vaccine hoarding in wealthy countries has hampered the project’s ability to secure doses for countries in need. By March 2021, COVAX had only secured 1.1 billion immunizations, compared to 4.6 billion purchased by wealthier countries. By June, the COVAX initiative was 190 million doses short of its distribution goals.
In addition to falling behind on global goals, some experts wonder why COVAX doesn’t tackle one of the root problems behind uneven global vaccine distribution. “If your problem is you want to have affordable vaccines around the world to cover the majority of the world, then the solution would be free licensing or compulsory licensing. COVAX doesn’t do that,” Sophie Harman, a professor of international politics, told Devex in March 2021. According to experts like Harman, waiving the vaccines’ IP rights could do more to protect low-income countries against COVID-19 in the long run than small numbers of vaccine donations, and COVAX doesn’t address the question of intellectual property law.
Other experts argue that different aspects of vaccine production are more important than who gets the IP rights. In May of this year, when the US joined China and Russia in supporting an IP waiver for COVID-19 vaccines, Prashant Yadav, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, said that the waiver could provide benefits “as part of a larger [aid] package.” However, according to Yadav, the biggest issue threatening the global vaccine supply is manufacturing capability, not intellectual property rights. Much of the world lacks the raw materials and production facilities needed to build up the global vaccine supply, and the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna require skilled expertise that even experienced manufacturers can have difficulty replicating. Ultimately, large countries like the US could do more good if they invested in vaccine manufacturing in lower income countries in addition to sharing the IP rights.
However, while the debate over the efficacy of COVAX rages on, so does the spread of the virus. Currently, global coronavirus cases are on the rise, with parts of Latin American, Africa, and Asia experiencing their worst caseloads in part because of the highly-contagious Delta variant. Although COVAX is falling short of its initial distribution benchmarks and fails to address intellectual property concerns, it is still one important tool the world has at its disposal to help end this crisis. So far, although the initiative has fallen short of its intended donation goals, COVAX has shipped 95 million vaccines to 134 participating countries. As much of the world continues to struggle within the virus’s grasp, wealthy states can take lessons from the slow success of the COVAX project and increase their support of lower- and middle-income countries. Whether that support be through manufacturing support, intellectual property licensing, or vaccine donations, it is on the states who have been successful in vaccinating their populations to now turn to the rest of the world.
