Globally there have been extraordinary developments of vaccines to help against the COVID-19 vaccine. UNICEF has set up a COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard which notes that at present 14 vaccines have been approved by one or more countries, that the companies in production or testing vaccines report existing or intended capacity in 2021 of 21 billion doses (depends on other vaccines being approved and companies overcoming any bottlenecks in supply), indicates that there are 10.4 billion “secured vaccine doses”, that there are 3.56 billion doses “secured and optioned for the COVAX facility” and that prices in the market range from $2.06/dose to $44.00/dose. See UNICEF, COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard, https://www.unicef.org/supply/covid-19-vaccine-market-dashboard (visited April 2, 2021). The dashboard contains a great deal of information looking at information on products, capacity, agreements, price and delivery.
The COVAX facility, administered by Gavi, put out in early March the first round of allocation of vaccine doses procured for low- and middle-income countries and others choosing to participate in acquiring through COVAX to improve equitable and affordable access for all. 142 of the countries participating in the COVAX facility were identified as allocated delivery of specific quantities of vaccine from a total of 237 million doses that were expected to be available to COVAX during the February – May timeline. See The COVAX Facility, First Round of Allocation: Astra Zeneca/Oxford Vaccine (manufactured by Astra Zeneca & licensed and manufactured by Serum Institute of India), https://www.gavi.org/sites/default/files/covid/covax/COVAX-First-round-allocation-of-AZ-and-SII.pdf . 87 of the 92 countries who will receive doses at no cost or reduced cost are included in the first round allocation (“AMC” countries). The March 2, 2021 document is embedded below.
COVAX-First-round-allocation-of-AZ-and-SII
In an April 1, 2021 update, Gavi notes that to date COVAX has shipped more than 33 million doses to 74 country. See GAVI, COVAX vaccine roll-out, https://www.gavi.org/covax-facility (visited April 2, 2021). While the ramp-up of deliveries to COVAX is scheduled to occur over time, COVAX received notice in late March of delays for shipments from India (Serum Institute of India) in both March and April, which COVAX has estimated could be a delay for as much as 90 million doses and indicated the delays were due to internal needs in India for more doses to support their own vaccination program. See UNICEF, COVAX updates participants on delivery delays for vaccines from Serum Institute of India (SII) and AstraZeneca, 25 March 2021,https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/covax-updates-participants-delivery-delays-vaccines-serum-institute-india-sii-and. The bulk of the press release is copied below.
“GENEVA/NEW YORK/OSLO, 25 March 2021 – Deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII) to lower-income economies participating in the COVAX Facility will face delays during March and April as the Government of India battles a new wave of COVID-19 infections. COVAX and the Government of India remain in discussions to ensure some supplies are completed during March and April.
“According to the agreement between Gavi and the Serum Institute of India (SII), which included funding to support an increase in manufacturing capacity, SII is contracted to provide COVAX with the SII-licensed and manufactured AstraZeneca (AZ)-Oxford vaccine (known as COVISHIELD) to 64 lower-income economies participating in the Gavi COVAX AMC (including India), alongside its commitments to the Government of India.
“To date, COVAX has been supplied with 28 million COVISHIELD doses and was expecting an additional 40 million doses to be available in March, and up to 50 million doses in April.
“COVAX has notified all affected economies of potential delays. SII has pledged that, alongside supplying India, it will prioritize the COVAX multilateral solution for equitable distribution.
“Participating economies have also received WHO guidance on optimizing the national deployment doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine in a constrained supply environment.
“Separately, the COVAX Facility has informed participants allocated AstraZeneca-manufactured doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine that some of the first deliveries due in March are now set to take place in April.
“In this early phase of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, vaccine manufacturers require time to scale and optimize their production processes. AstraZeneca, which uses a novel supply chain network with sites across multiple continents, is working to enable initial supply to 82 countries through COVAX in the coming weeks.
“COVAX retains its objective of supplying initial doses of vaccines to all participating economies in the first half of the year before ramping up significantly in the second half of 2021. To date, COVAX has shipped vaccines to over 50 countries and economies.”
While there have been various manufacturing challenges in the early months of vaccine roll-outs, the decision by India to slow distribution of vaccine doses purchased by COVAX will clearly slow distribution to many least developed and developing countries dependent on COVAX for their vaccine doses. Since as much as a third of vaccine doses that COVAX has distributed have gone to India, the Indian government has what is at least a public relations challenge at the present time. See India Today, India received one-third of vaccines made for poor countries by India under COVAX programme: Report, 30 March 2021, https://www.indiatoday.in/coronavirus-outbreak/vaccine-updates/story/india-received-one-third-of-vaccines-made-for-poor-countries-by-india-under-covax-programme-report-1785242-2021-03-30. However, with a number of variants of the virus circulating widely and with infections increasing in many countries around the world, the delays are of concern to many governments with anxious populations looking for a path past the pandemic.
In a paper from Airfinity and the St. Gallen Endowment for Prosperity through Trade on March 31, 2021, an effort is made to look at the likely damage to low income countries from the announced delays in shipments to COVAX. SeeSimon J. Evenett and Matt Linley, Halting India’s Vaccine Exports: The Fallout, 31 March 2021. The paper estimates that the delays in shipments will push back achieving even minimum vaccinations by 60-90 days for many of the COVAX recipient countries. The paper is embedded below.
AF_SGEPT_TL1_31_March_2021_finalised
While there is a lot of positive news being reported (e.g., expansion of capacities and expected shipments in 2021, effectiveness of some of the existing vaccines against some of the new variants, agreement between the United States, Japan, India and Australia to generate one billion doses of a vaccine in India for distribution in the Indo-Pacific area in 2021 and 2022, and the United States hosting a funding effort for COVAX later in April to help close the funding needs for 2021 (after the U.S.’s $4 billion contribution)), delays for up to 90 million doses ( 37.97% of the total doses expected in the February – May 2021 time period by COVAX) to those dependent on COVAX is a significant challenge. See, e.g., Gavi, United States to host launch event for Gavi COVAX AMC 2021 investment opportunity, 29 March 2021, https://www.gavi.org/news/media-room/united-states-host-launch-event-gavi-covax-amc-2021-investment-opportunity; March 25, 2021, Global vaccinations for COVID-19 — continued supply chain and production issues and a new wave of infections in many countries delay greater ramp up for some until late in the second quarter of 2021, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2021/03/25/global-vaccinations-for-covid-19-continued-supply-chain-and-production-issues-and-a-new-wave-of-infections-in-many-countries-delay-greater-ramp-up-for-some-until-late-in-the-second-quarter-of-2021/; March 12, 2021, COVID-19 vaccines – U.S., Japan, India and Australia agree to one billion doses for Indo-Pacific countries, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2021/03/12/covid-19-vaccines-u-s-japan-india-and-australia-agree-to-one-billion-doses-for-indo-pacific-countries/; March 12, 2021, The 8-9 March “Global C19 Vaccine Supply Chain and Manufacturing Summit” – efforts to ramp-up production, https://currentthoughtsontrade.com/2021/03/12/the-8-9-march-global-c19-vaccine-supply-chain-and-manufacturing-summit-efforts-to-ramp-up-production/.
The WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is planning a meeting on vaccines later in April that was described in a WTO press release as follows.
“DG Okonjo-Iweala also said that she plans to convene an event in mid-April to discuss ramping up COVID-19 vaccine production and how the WTO can contribute to a more rapid and equitable distribution of vaccines.
“The event, to be held under Chatham House rules, will include all regional member groups, representatives from vaccine manufacturers from developing and developed countries, civil society groups working on access to medicine, and other relevant stakeholders.
“’The idea is to move us along on our quest to solve this unacceptable inequitable access of poor countries to vaccines,’ she said. ‘At the bottom of this is a very serious scarcity in supply. And how to solve it is to look at how we expand manufacturing in all its ways.’
“She stressed that the event would help advance global discussions on access to vaccines. She expressed hope both for increased vaccine manufacturing in the short- to medium-term, and a longer-term framework agreement that would provide for automatic access to vaccines and other medical products for developing countries in future health crises, including a way forward on the TRIPS waiver proposal many of them support.
“’We also need to look to the future and agree a framework where countries do not need to stand in the queue in order to get access to life-saving vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics,’ she said, emphasizing that this can be done while still incentivizing research and development.”
WTO, Director-General urges WTO members to deliver concrete results this year, 30 March 2021, https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news21_e/dgno_30mar21_e.htm.
Conclusion
Governments are understandably focused on trying to end the pandemic at home as a first priority. The efforts of the WHO, Gavi, CEPI and UNICEF through the COVAX facility in recent years has provided a welcome source of hope for many nations for greater equity in distribution and in affordability of vaccines, including in the last year addressing the enormous challenge presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries and private groups have stepped up with major funding contributions to make vaccine available. Individual governments are also working to increase supplies globally. Many bottlenecks have arisen with the large number of inputs and the enormous increase in demand that has arisen over the last year. There is a need for continued efforts by governments and businesses to address the challenges and to see that the needs of the low- and middle-income countries can be met in a timely manner as well. While there will be a lot more production in the second half of 2021, there are and will continue to be challenges in the second quarter. Focus on identifying challenges and global cooperation to solve bottlenecks will do a lot to ensure greater global success in the remainder of 2021.
To read the original blog post from Terence Stewart’s Current Thoughts on Trade, please click here