Geneva/Oslo/New York, December 18 – The World Health Organization said its global initiative known as COVAX to ensure rapid and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines for all countries has obtained access to 2 billion doses from drug makers and is planning to distribute the shots in the first quarter of next year.

A total of 92 low- and middle-income countries will receive 1.3 billion of the total 2 billon doses. The distribution will be contingent upon regulatory approvals and readiness to distribute in the 190 countries. WHO said the 2 billion doses are still under development and the agreement it obtained from the drug makers is the “clearest pathway yet to end the acute phase of the pandemic by protecting the most vulnerable populations around the world.”

“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.”

“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 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.”

WHO said the new deals just announced included the signing of advance purchase agreements 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

WHO said the COVAX Facility currently has 190 participating economies – 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.

The health organization said for COVAX to meet its ambitious goals it needs to raise an additional  $6.8 billion in 2021 – $800 million for research and development, at least $4.6 billion for the COVAX AMC and $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 $2 billion, but at least $4.6 billion more is needed in 2021 to procure doses of successful candidates as they come through the portfolio. 

Note from WHO about COVAX:

COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by CEPI, Gavi and WHO – working in partnership with developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers, UNICEF, the World Bank, and others. 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.

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