Nine
CEPI-supported candidate vaccines are part of the COVAX initiative, with a
further nine candidates under evaluation, and procurement conversations
on-going with additional producers not currently receiving research and
development (R&D) funding through COVAX – giving COVAX the largest and most
diverse COVID-19 vaccine portfolio in the world
80
potentially self-financing countries have submitted non-binding expressions of
interest to the Gavi-coordinated COVAX Facility, joining 92 low- and
middle-income economies that are eligible to be supported by the COVAX Advance
Market Commitment (AMC)
Goal of
bringing the pandemic under control via equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines
needs urgent, broadscale commitment and investment from countries
172
economies are now engaged in discussions to potentially participate in COVAX, a
global initiative aimed at working with vaccine manufacturers to provide
countries worldwide equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, once they
are licensed and approved. COVAX currently has the world’s largest and most
diverse COVID-19 vaccine portfolio - including nine candidate vaccines, with a
further nine under evaluation and conversations underway with other mayor
producers.
COVAX,
the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is
co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the
Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organization (WHO) – working in
partnership with developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers. It is
the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers
to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and
lower-income countries.
In
order to be able to secure enough doses of vaccines to protect the most
vulnerable populations, such as health workers and the elderly, the next step
for the partnership is to confirm potential self-financing participants’ intent
to participate by 31 August and to turn these into binding commitments to join
the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX Facility) by 18 September, with
first upfront payments to follow thereafter, and no later than 9 October 2020.
“Equal
access to a COVID-19 vaccine is the key to beating the virus and paving the way
for recovery from the pandemic,” said Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister of Sweden.
“This cannot be a race with a few winners, and the COVAX Facility is an
important part of the solution – making sure all countries can benefit from
access to the world’s largest portfolio of candidates and fair and equitable
distribution of vaccine doses.”
The COVAX
Facility is a Gavi-coordinated pooled procurement mechanism for new COVID-19
vaccines, through which COVAX will ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines
for each participating economy, using an allocation framework currently being
formulated by WHO. The COVAX Facility will do this by pooling buying power from
participating economies and providing volume guarantees across a range of
promising vaccine candidates, allowing those vaccine manufacturers whose
expertise is essential to large scale production of the new vaccines, to make
early, at-risk investments in manufacturing capacity – providing participating
countries and economies with the best chance at rapid access to doses of a
successful COVID-19 vaccine.
The
success of COVAX hinges not only on countries signing up to the COVAX Facility,
but also filling key funding gaps for both COVAX R&D work and a mechanism
to support participation of lower-income economies in the COVAX Facility.
“COVID-19
is an unprecedented global health challenge that can only be met with
unprecedented cooperation between governments, researchers, manufacturers and
multilateral partners,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of
WHO. “By pooling resources and acting in solidarity through the ACT Accelerator
and the COVAX Facility, we can ensure that once a vaccine is available for
COVID-19, it’s available equitably to all countries.”
CEPI is
leading COVAX vaccine research and development work, which aims to develop
three safe and effective vaccines which can be made available to countries
participating in the COVAX Facility. Nine candidate vaccines are currently
being supported by CEPI; seven of which are currently in clinical trials.
Governments, vaccine manufacturers (in addition to their own R&D), organizations
and individuals have committed US$ 1.4 billion towards vaccine R&D so far,
but an additional US$1 billion is urgently needed to continue to move the
portfolio forward.
A
further nine candidates vaccines which complement the current CEPI portfolio
are currently being evaluated for inclusion in COVAX. Furthermore, COVAX will consider procuring
vaccines that complement the portfolio from any producer in the world;
conversations are already underway with a number of additional manufacturers
not receiving R&D support from CEPI to procure their vaccines if they are
successful. Maximizing the portfolio of vaccines increases the probability of
success as individual vaccines historically have a high failure rate.
“In the
scramble for a vaccine, countries can act alone – creating a few winners, and
many losers - or they can come together to participate in COVAX, an initiative
which is built on enlightened self-interest but also equity, leaving no country
behind,” said Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI. “Only by taking a global view can
we protect those most at risk around the world from the terrible effects of
this disease. COVAX can deliver the vaccines that could end the pandemic, but
it needs countries to step forward both to join the COVAX Facility, and also to
address the serious funding shortfalls, including for R&D. The decisions
that are taken now about COVID-19 vaccines have the power to change our future.
We must be courageous and ambitious in striving for a multilateral solution.”
A
collaboration between Serum Institute of India (SII), Gavi and the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation announced earlier this month will ensure up to 100
million doses of AstraZeneca or Novavax’s candidate vaccines, if successful,
will be available to low- and middle-income economies through the COVAX
Facility at just US$ 3 per dose. The arrangement also provides an option to
secure additional doses if COVAX sees a need for it. Separate agreements
between Gavi, CEPI and AstraZeneca, announced in June, guarantee a further 300
million doses of their candidate vaccine, if successful, for the COVAX
Facility.
In
addition, in June Gavi launched the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a
financing instrument aimed at supporting the participation of 92 lower and
middle income economies in the COVAX Facility. The COVAX AMC has raised more
than US$ 600 million against an initial target of securing US$ 2 billion seed
funding from sovereign donors as well as philanthropy and the private sector, needed
by the end of 2020. Funding the COVAX AMC will be critical to ensuring ability
to pay is not a barrier to accessing COVID-19 vaccines, a situation which would
leave the majority of the world unprotected, with the pandemic and its impact
continuing unabated.
Eighty
higher-income economies, which would finance the vaccines from their own public
finance budgets, have so far submitted Expressions of Interest ahead of the
deadline of 31 August for confirmation of intent to participate. They will
partner with 92 low- and middle-income countries that will be supported by the
AMC if it meets its funding targets. Together, this group of 172 countries
represents more than 70% of the world’s population. Among the group are
representatives from every continent and more than half of the world’s G20
economies.
“The
momentum we are witnessing behind this unprecedented global effort means there
could be light at the end of the tunnel: A vaccine is our best route to ending
the acute phase of the pandemic and the COVAX effort is the best way to get
there,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “For
higher-income countries it represents a win-win: not only will you be
guaranteed access to the world’s largest portfolio of vaccines, you will also
be negotiating as part of a global consortium, bringing down prices and
ensuring truly global access. Signing up to the COVAX Facility gives each
country its best chance at protecting the most vulnerable members of their
populations – which in turn gives the world its best chance at mitigating the
toll this pandemic has taken on individuals, communities and the global
economy. To make this end-to-end vision a reality, we need countries to make
end-to-end commitments: funding R&D, signing up to the Facility, and supporting
the COVAX AMC.”
The
COVAX Facility is coordinated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and forms a key
part of COVAX – the vaccines pillar of the ACT Accelerator, a ground-breaking
global collaboration involving vaccine manufacturers to accelerate the development,
production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines.
The overall aim of COVAX is to accelerate the development and manufacture of
COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country
in the world. It will achieve this by sharing the risks associated with vaccine
development, and where necessary investing in manufacturing upfront so vaccines
can be deployed at scale as soon as they are proven to be safe and effective,
and pooling procurement and purchasing power to achieve sufficient volumes to
end the acute phase of the pandemic by 2021.
The
goal of COVAX is by the end of 2021 to deliver two billion doses of safe,
effective vaccines that have passed regulatory approval and/or WHO
prequalification. These vaccines will be offered equally to all participating
countries, proportional to their populations, initially prioritising healthcare
workers then expanding to cover vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and
those with pre-existing conditions. Further doses will then be made available
based on country need, vulnerability and COVID-19 threat. The COVAX Facility
will also maintain a buffer of doses for emergency and humanitarian use,
including dealing with severe outbreaks before they spiral out of control..