The former co-chairs of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response have called on high-income countries to urgently deliver on their pledged COVID-19 vaccine doses to low- and middle-income countries. The panel had recommended redistributing at least 1 billion doses to the 92 low- and middle-income countries that are part of COVAX’s Advance Market Commitment by Sept. 1.
COVID-19 vaccine unpredictability complicates country-level planning
Donated doses of COVID-19 vaccines are arriving erratically in many African nations, sometimes with little warning on when they might arrive or what type of doses they might receive. This is making it a challenge for countries to plan their rollouts.
According to a statement shared by the World Health Organization, formel panel co-chairs Helen Clark and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said only 99 million doses donated have been shipped via COVAX — of which 89 million doses have been shipped to the 97 COVAX AMC countries.
“High-income countries have ordered over twice as many doses as are needed for their populations. Now is the time to show solidarity with those who have not yet been able to vaccinate their frontline health workers and most vulnerable populations,” the co-chairs said, adding that reaching the 1 billion doses goal by Sept. 1 “would be a vital step in protecting the five billion people aged 15 and over who live in low- and middle-income countries.”
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They said that the millions of doses that have already been pledged to date “need to be delivered with urgency,” and also called for more efforts to increase low- and middle-income countries’ ability to produce their own vaccines.
Their statement follows that of the heads of the Multilateral Leaders Taskforce on COVID-19, composed of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, WHO, and the World Trade Organization last Aug. 27 that called on the G-7 countries and other dose-sharing countries to “fulfill their pledges urgently, with enhanced pipeline visibility, product shelf life and support for ancillary supplies.” Hardly 10% of nearly 900 million committed doses have been shipped, the statement said.