COVAX now has agreements in place to access nearly two billion doses
of several promising vaccine candidates, and laid the groundwork for further
doses to be secured through contributions from donors
These agreements mean that all COVAX’s 190 participating and
eligible economies will be able to access doses to protect vulnerable
groups in the first half of 2021. At least 1.3 billion donor-funded doses will
be made available to 92 economies eligible for the Gavi COVAX AMC, targeting up
to 20% population coverage by the end of the year.
Funding raised in 2020 and early pledges toward 2021 targets,
alongside these agreements, offer clearest pathway yet to ending the acute
phase of the pandemic globally by the end of 2021
Geneva/Oslo,
18 December 2020 – COVAX, the global initiative to
ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries,
regardless of income level, today announced that it had arrangements in place
to access nearly two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine candidates, on behalf of
190 participating economies. For the vast majority of these deals, COVAX has
guaranteed access to a portion of the first wave of production, followed by
volume scales as further supply becomes available. The arrangements announced
today will enable all participating economies to have access to doses in the
first half of 2021, with first deliveries anticipated to begin in the first
quarter of 2021 – contingent upon regulatory approvals and countries’ readiness
for delivery.
Given
these are arrangements for 2 billion doses of vaccine candidates which are
still under development, COVAX will continue developing its portfolio: this
will be critical to achieve its goal of securing access to 2 billion doses of
safe and effective, approved vaccines that are suitable for all participants’
contexts, and available by the end of 2021. However, today’s announcements
offer the clearest pathway yet to end the acute phase of the pandemic by
protecting the most vulnerable populations around the world. This includes
delivering at least 1.3 billion donor-funded doses of approved vaccines in 2021
to the 92 low- and middle-income economies eligible for the COVAX AMC.
The
new deals announced today include the signing of an advance purchase agreement
with AstraZeneca for 170 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford candidate, and
a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Johnson & Johnson for 500 million
doses of the Janssen candidate, which is currently being investigated as a
single dose vaccine.. These deals are in addition to existing agreements COVAX
has with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for 200 million doses – with
options for up to 900 million doses more – of either the AstraZeneca/Oxford or
Novavax candidates, as well as a statement of intent for 200 million doses of
the Sanofi/GSK vaccine candidate.
In
addition to this, COVAX also has – through R&D partnership agreements –
first right of refusal in 2021 to access potentially more than one billion
doses (based on current estimates from the manufacturing processes under
development) that will be produced, subject to technical success and regulatory
approval, by candidates in the COVAX R&D Portfolio.
“This
commitment is evidence that the world learned an important lesson from the 2009
H1N1 pandemic. Our research and development efforts have begun to pay off. We
now have safe and effective vaccines that can protect against COVID-19 and a
clear pathway to securing 2 billion doses for the populations at greatest risk
all around the world,” said Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for
Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). “Securing the right of first
refusal of successful vaccine production as part of R&D arrangements has
helped guarantee equitable access to vaccines, a founding principle of CEPI.
The challenge of delivering the vaccines that have demonstrated success, of
completing the development of other promising vaccine candidates to further
increase supply, and of ending the acute phase of the pandemic, lies ahead of
us.”
Alongside
boosting its pathway to two billion doses of approved vaccines through direct
agreements with manufacturers, the COVAX Facility has also opened another
potential source of vaccines. Published today, the Principles
for Dose-Sharing provide a framework for higher-income economies to
make additional volumes secured via bilateral deals available through the
Facility primarily to AMC participants, on an equitable basis. These principles
outline that such doses must be safe and effective, available as early as
possible and should be available in substantive volumes as early as possible in
2021 to enable rapid and flexible deployment by the Facility – supporting the
overall goal of equitable access.
First deliveries in Q1 2021
Today’s
announcements on deals and dose-sharing mean COVAX can plan for the first
deliveries of vaccines in the first quarter of 2021, with the first tranche of
doses – enough to protect health and social care workers – delivered in the
first half of 2021 to all participating economies who have requested doses in
this timeframe. This would be followed by further delivery of doses to all
participants in the second half of the year – targeting supply of doses
equalling up to 20% of participants’ populations (or a lower amount if
requested by the participant) by the end of the year. Additional doses to reach
higher coverage levels will then be available in 2022. All deliveries are
contingent upon several factors, such as regulatory approvals and country readiness.
“The
arrival of vaccines is giving all of us a glimpse of the light at the end of
the tunnel,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World
Health Organisation (WHO). “But we will only truly end the pandemic if we end
it everywhere at the same time, which means it’s essential to vaccinate some
people in all countries, rather than all people in some countries. And we must
remember that vaccines will complement, but not replace, the many other tools
we have in our toolbox to stop transmission and save lives. We must continue to
use all of them."
The
COVAX Facility currently has 190
participating economies. This includes 98 higher-income economies and 92
low- and middle-income economies eligible to have their participation in the
Facility supported via the financing mechanism known as the Gavi COVAX AMC. Of the
92 economies eligible to be supported by the COVAX AMC, 86 have now submitted
detailed vaccine requests, offering the clearest picture yet on actual global
demand for COVID-19 vaccines.
In
addition to gathering detailed information on participating economies’ vaccine
requests, COVAX, through Gavi, UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank, and other partners
has been working closely with all countries in the Facility, particularly
AMC-eligible participants, to help plan and prepare for the widespread roll out
of vaccines. Conditions that determine country readiness include regulatory
preparedness as well as the availability of infrastructure, appropriate legal
frameworks, training, and capacity, among other factors.
“Securing
access to doses of a new vaccine for both higher-income and lower-income
countries, at roughly the same time and during a pandemic, is a feat the world
has never achieved before – let alone at such unprecedented speed and scale,”
said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which leads on
procurement and delivery for COVAX. “COVAX has now built a platform that offers
the world the prospect, for the first time, of being able to defeat the
pandemic on a global basis, but the work is not done: it’s critical that both
governments and industry continue to support our efforts to achieve this goal”.
Early pledges towards 2021 fundraising targets
To
achieve this ambitious goal, COVAX currently estimates it needs to raise an
additional US$ 6.8 billion in 2021 – US$ 800 million for research and
development, at least US$ 4.6 billion for the COVAX AMC and US$ 1.4 billion for
delivery support.
Support
for the COVAX AMC will be critical to ensuring ability to pay is not a barrier
to access. Thanks to the generous support of sovereign, private sector, and
philanthropic donors, the AMC has met its urgent 2020 fundraising target of US$
2 billion, but at least US$ 4.6 billion more is needed in 2021 to procure doses
of successful candidates as they come through the portfolio.
The
last two weeks have seen a number of pledges made to Gavi for the COVAX AMC,
bringing the overall amount raised to US$ 2.4 billion:
Norway has
signed a new commitment of NOK 1 billion to the International Finance Facility
for Immunisation (IFFIm), to be paid from 2021 to 2030. This funding will
support the Gavi COVAX AMC and comes on top of earlier commitments of NOK 164.1
million in direct funding and $6.25 million in funding transferred from the PCV
AMC to support the Gavi COVAX AMC.
Canada pledged
CAD 75 million in funding to support the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines in lower
income economies as part of the Gavi COVAX AMC. This includes a CAD 5 million
investment in the development of a mechanism to equitably reallocate vaccine
doses through the COVAX Facility, either by donation or exchange.
Kuwait has
confirmed a pledge of US$ 10 million to the Gavi COVAX AMC.
Denmark has
announced, subject to parliamentary approval, a commitment of DKK 50 million to
Gavi COVAX AMC.
New
Zealand has pledged NZ$ 10 million to the Gavi COVAX AMC, in
addition to NZ$ 7 million pledged earlier this year for the AMC.
Netherlands has
signed and paid a commitment of EUR 5 million to the Gavi COVAX AMC
Singapore has
pledged US$ 5 million to the Gavi COVAX AMC
The King
Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) / Gamers Without Borders have
confirmed a pledge of US$ 1.3 million to the Gavi COVAX AMC
Estonia has
signed a commitment of EUR 70,000 to the Gavi COVAX AMC
In
addition to these pledges, Team Europe confirmed
financial support of EUR 500 million, through EUR 400 million European
Investment Bank loan and EUR100 million grant to Gavi, in support of equitable
access through COVAX.
The
goal of COVAX is to deliver two billion doses of safe, effective vaccines that
have passed regulatory approval and/or WHO prequalification by the end of 2021.
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.
Quotes from partners
Karina
Gould, Minister of International Development, Government of Canada said:
“We know that as long as one country is at risk, we are all at risk. The COVAX
Facility is the key to ending this pandemic and will only work if we all come
together. Now is the time to make our commitment to equitable access a reality,
so that everyone, everywhere has access to a life-saving vaccine.”
Dr
Kwaku Agyeman Manu, Minister of Health for Ghana said:
The nearly 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses announced today by COVAX is a
welcome first step, but our journey is not yet over. As we’ve learned with
routine immunisation vaccines don’t save lives, vaccination does. This means we
need the health infrastructure in place - from supply chain and logistics to
well- trained health workers - to ensure the effective and streamlined
distribution of vaccines. For this we call on governments, manufacturers and
the private sector to make urgent and necessary investments in COVAX so that no
one is left behind; because ultimately no one is safe until everyone is safe.
Dag-Inge
Ulstein, Norway’s Minister of International Development and Co-chair of the
ACT-A Facilitation Council, said: “The good news is that many
countries, foundations and some private companies have already provided support
to this important collective effort. The bad news is that more is needed. We
need to look beyond the health sector and the international development sector
if we are to find the political and financial resources required to combat the
pandemic and its many different impacts.”
Wendy
Morton, Minister for Global Health at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
Office of the UK, which also hosted the Global Vaccine Summit
in June, said: “The UK has played the leading role in championing global access
to coronavirus vaccines, including by being the largest donor to the COVAX
Advance Market Commitment. No one is safe until we are all safe. Along with our
international partners, the UK is working hard to ensure vaccines get to
everyone who needs them.”
Dr
John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention (Africa CDC) said: “Since the beginning of the
COVID-19 pandemic, Africa CDC has established several trusted partnerships
across the globe. The COVAX partnership is one of such very critical alliances
that will allow Africa to secure early access to COVID-19 vaccine needed to start
vaccinating our populations across the continent.”
Henrietta
Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF said: “This is an unprecedented
undertaking — addressing a global pandemic while ensuring we do not leave the
world’s poorest behind. UNICEF is bringing the full weight of our experience as
the world’s largest single procurer of vaccines to help secure and deliver
COVID-19 vaccines, and help countries prepare to receive and administer them.”
Dr
Ngozi-Okonjo Iweala, co-chair of the COVAX Coordination Meeting and Gavi Board
Chair said: “Nine months ago, it was hard to imagine that we would
have more than one promising vaccine candidate and be in a position to make
them available to both high-income countries and lower-income countries
simultaneously. The global community has rallied, and we now have a platform,
COVAX, that will do this. It’s time to stop questioning it and give it the
support it needs to bring the pandemic to an end as swiftly as possible.”
Jane
Halton, co-chair of the COVAX Coordination Meeting and Chair of CEPI said:
“Science will give us the tools to fight this pandemic, but equitable access
will allow us to beat it. Today marks a significant moment towards our goal of
fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for those most at risk around
the world. We now have a clear pathway to our goal of delivering 2 billion
doses of vaccine in 2021 - enabled by COVAX R&D investments and deals with
manufacturers - which can bring an end to the acute phase of the pandemic
globally. In addition, governments can now demonstrate their continued
commitment to this goal by contributing doses to COVAX of vaccines secured
through bilateral deals. Equitable access to vaccines is in all of our
interests, and we’re now a significant step closer to making this a reality.”
Mesfin
Teklu Tessema, civil society representative of the COVAX Coordination Meeting
and Senior Director, Head of Health Unit, International Rescue Committee said:
"The COVAX Facility is our best hope to ending this pandemic as quickly as
possible with equity as its grounding force. This announcement today is an
important milestone and proof that doses are forthcoming to those most in need
everywhere."
Adar
Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India (SII) said:
"We are delighted to announce that we have signed for a 100mn doses of
Novavax and another 100mn doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines with COVAX, with
an option of extending it by 900mn doses. The advance purchase commitments
under COVAX initiative is encouraging as it will further bolster our fight and
ensure equitable access at the most affordable price from Serum Institute of
India.”
Pascal
Soriot, Chief Executive Officer, AstraZeneca, said: “Today’s Agreement is a
significant milestone for global access to the AZD1222 vaccine. Our
collaboration with COVAX is testament to AstraZeneca’s commitment to broad,
equitable access at no profit during the pandemic period. We now look forward
to progressing our work with COVAX partners to ensure that as many people as
possible around the world can access a safe, effective vaccine – wherever they
live.”
Paul
Stoffels, M.D., Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee and Chief Scientific
Officer, Johnson & Johnson said: “Since we initiated
development of our COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Johnson & Johnson has
remained committed to ensuring access to vaccines on a not-for-profit basis for
emergency pandemic use. Equitable global access, inclusive of lower income
countries, is critical to helping end the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Thomas
B. Cueni, Director General, International Federation of Pharmaceutical
Manufacturers (IFPMA) said: The reason why we can mark today
as a milestone for COVAX securing 2 billion doses of promising vaccines is
because the vaccine makers have pulled out all the stops and have delivered
beyond all expectations. So let’s indeed mark this important milestone in
ensuring fair and equitable access to vaccines which we have committed to from
the outset of the pandemic. But let us also remember, that we would not be
where we are if science and the innovation ecosystem that allows the
biopharmaceutical to develop and manufacture life saving treatments had not
risen to the challenge, so that there are different types of vaccines that will
be manufactured in historic quantities. Looking to 2021, it is essential that
all COVAX partners and governments focus on getting things done and secure the
funds need.
Notes to editors
The
full list of deals that have so far been secured by COVAX on behalf of the
Facility is as follows:
170
million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford candidate, via an advance purchase
agreement between Gavi and AstraZeneca, and enabled by a partnership agreement
with CEPI to fund scale-out of manufacturing
200
million doses (and options for up to 900 million more) of the
AstraZeneca/Oxford or Novavax candidates, via an agreement between Gavi, the
Serum Institute of India, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
500
million doses of the Janssen candidate, via a memorandum of understanding with
Johnson & Johnson
200
million doses of the Sanofi/GSK vaccine candidate, via a statement of intent
between Gavi, Sanofi and GSK
First
right of refusal for a potential combined total of over 1 billion doses in 2021
(based on current estimates from the manufacturing processes under development)
of promising vaccine candidates, via R&D partnership agreements with CEPI -
that will be produced, subject to technical success and regulatory approval, by
candidates in the COVAX R&D Portfolio.
As
part of the COVAX R&D portfolio, CEPI has invested in 10 vaccine
candidates. 9 of these candidates are still in development, and 7 are in
clinical trials.
AstraZeneca/
University of Oxford (Phase 3)
Clover
Biopharmaceuticals, China (Phase 1)
CureVac,
Germany (Phase 2B/3)
Inovio,
USA (Phase 2)
Institut
Pasteur/Merck/Themis, France/USA/Austria (Phase 1)
Moderna,
USA (Phase 3)
Novavax,
USA (Phase 3)
SK
bioscience, South Korea (Preclinical)
University
of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (Preclinical)
University
of Queensland/ CSL, Australia (Phase 1, programme discontinued)
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