The Covax system, which supplies poor countries with COVID vaccines, has ambitions to bring the pandemic to its knees in 2022 by ensuring that doses will not only be delivered but also distributed and injected.
Covax was created even before the appearance of anti-COVID vaccines, by the WHO, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), Unicef and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi).
Its goal: to ensure an equitable distribution of serums. He delivered his billionth dose in mid-January. Both a feat and a disappointment: it’s much less than originally expected.
“In 2022, we can help stop COVID by adapting the way we do things, ensuring doses are used quickly, injected safely, and meet country preferences and coverage goals,” said Seth Berkley. , the head of the Vaccine Alliance during a call for donations launched on January 19.
New strategy
Covax has had its share of misfortunes, victim among other things of the strategy of the rich countries which monopolized the most possible doses, but also of a long ban on exports from India, where its main source of supply.
It was therefore necessary to rely on vaccine donations from rich countries, but this also involved difficulties, in particular because of doses too close to the expiry date, deliveries in too small quantities or too erratic to allow the implementation of effective vaccination campaigns.
For this year, Covax needs $5.2 billion within three months to fund serum doses for 2022.
It takes 3.7 billion dollars to finance a reserve of 600 million doses, which should ensure a smooth supply.
Another billion dollars is intended to help poor countries prepare and distribute vaccines to avoid waste.
Finally, 545 million dollars must be used to cover costs such as transport, syringes or insurance.
“What we don’t have today are the resources to help countries adapt to the new challenges that COVID-19 will create in 2022,” Berkley said, thinking in particular about the arrival new vaccines adapted to new variants.
“In this case we may well end up with inequity 2.0,” he warns.
On rails
Covax, which estimates it can save a million lives this year and halve the economic cost of the pandemic in some countries, says it has access to enough doses to vaccinate about 45% of the population of the 91 countries that benefit from vaccine donations. .
But the WHO’s goal by July 2022 is for 70% of the population in each country to be vaccinated. An ambitious goal, when 85% of the population in Africa has not even received a dose of anti-COVID serum.
At the current rate, 109 countries will miss the target, according to the WHO.
Seth Berkley hopes the next billion doses will be delivered in four or five months rather than the year it took for the first.
Dose for all
Richard Hatchett, CEO of Cepi, underlines that the objective is also to help countries that need it to organize mass vaccination campaigns.
“The last mile (between delivery and injection, editor’s note) will be the major challenge for 2022,” he explained during a round table at the World Economic Forum.
Up to 25 countries are expected to require assistance in this area.
A total of 9.8 billion doses have been injected for just over a year and Covax accounts for 82% in poor countries.
Bangladesh (130 million doses), Indonesia (87 million), Pakistan (77 million) and the Philippines (66 million doses) topped the list of recipients.
For Mr. Hatchett, the production capacities now make it possible to help the poorest countries to transform these doses into vaccinations.
Whether it’s an initial vaccination or a booster, offering an injection to whoever wants it “is an achievable goal in 2022”, he insists.