With several candidates showing promise in their bid to create a COVID-19 vaccine, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has taken the lead to procure and supply the injections, as part of the global plan of the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX).
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore
In a statement, the organisation informed that this could be the world’s largest and fastest ever procurement and supply of vaccines in an effort that is led by Vaccine Alliance, GAVI. It will provide for 92 low- and lower-middle-income countries, whose vaccine purchases will be supported as well as a buffer stockpile for humanitarian emergencies.
In addition, UNICEF will also serve as procurement coordinator to support procurement by 80 higher-income economies, which have expressed their intent to participate in the COVAX Facility and would finance the vaccines from their own public finance budgets. The COVAX Facility is open to all countries to ensure that no country is left without access to a future COVID-19 vaccine.
UNICEF will undertake these efforts in close collaboration with the World Health Organisation/Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other partners.
UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore has related, “This is an all-hands on deck partnership between governments, manufacturers and multilateral partners to continue the high-stakes fight against the COVID-19 pandemic…In our collective pursuit of a vaccine, UNICEF is leveraging its unique strengths in vaccine supply to make sure that all countries have safe, fast and equitable access to the initial doses when they are available.”
The agency is the largest single vaccine buyer in the world, procuring more than two billion doses of vaccines annually for routine immunisation and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries. It is the main procurement partner of Gavi, which over the last 20 years has reached more than 760 million children with life-saving vaccines, preventing more than 13 million deaths.
UNICEF will use its market shaping and procurement expertise to coordinate the procurement and supply of vaccines for the COVAX Facility – which could potentially double the agency’s overall vaccine procurement volume in 2021 alone.
In response to an expression of interest that was issued in June on behalf of the Facility, 28 manufacturers with production facilities in 10 countries shared their annual production plans for coronavirus vaccines through 2023. According to the timelines the manufacturers indicated, the span from development to production could be one of the fastest scientific and manufacturing leaps in history.
A UNICEF market assessment, developed by compiling information submitted by vaccine manufacturers along with publicly available data, revealed that manufacturers are willing to collectively produce unprecedented quantities of vaccines over the coming one to two years. However, manufacturers signalled that investments to support such large-scale production of doses would be highly dependent on, among other things, whether clinical trials are successful, advance purchase agreements are put in place, funding is confirmed, and regulatory and registration pathways are streamlined.
A key next step will be ensuring self-financing economies sign up for the COVAX Facility by September 18, which will allow COVAX to support early, at-risk investments in increasing manufacturing capacity on a broad scale, through advance purchase agreements.
Currently under development by WHO, the COVAX allocation framework will guide how and where UNICEF, PAHO and other procurers working on behalf of participating countries supply COVID-19 vaccines that are secured by the Facility. Initial dose allocations are expected to be scaled to enable countries to vaccinate health and social workers, followed by subsequent tranches of vaccine doses that would enable participating countries to vaccinate populations at higher risk of critical COVID-19 disease.
Chief Executive Officer of Gavi, Dr Seth Berkley has iterated, “This expertise and experience will be important in ensuring that COVAX – as a global effort to procure and deliver safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, on an accelerated timeframe, and at an unprecedented scale – can protect the most at-risk, wherever they may be in the world. Together we can work to end the acute stage of this pandemic, including its devastating impact on individuals, communities, and economies.”
Only Friday, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony alluded to the agency and Guyana’s involvement, citing that it would help to secure vaccines as soon as it becomes available. The senior health official said such engagements broaden the possibility of acquiring the vaccine at the earliest. (G12)
