The first COVAX vaccine shipment arrives in Ghana, hope for the developing world

The first consignment of Covid-19 vaccines delivered by the World Health Organization’s COVAX program arrived in Ghana on Wednesday, a hopeful turning point for developing countries at risk of falling behind in the global race for vaccinations against a virus which has killed nearly 2.5 million people worldwide.

The flight brought with it 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is much easier to see in developing countries as it does not require exceptionally cold storage temperatures like the Pfizer-GenTech and Moderna vaccines.

The vaccines delivered on Wednesday will be prioritized, according to the Ghanaian Ministry of Information, for frontline medical workers, people over 60, and those with an existing health condition.

“Today is the historic moment for which we have planned and worked so hard,” Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of UNICEF, said in a joint statement from her agency and the WHO Ghana.

“With the first dose doses, we can live up to the promise of the COVAX facility to ensure that people from less wealthy countries do not lag behind in the race for life-saving vaccines.”

COVAX is a global plan led by the WHO, an international vaccine alliance called Gavi, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

As prosperous countries continue to develop and obtain vaccines, poorer countries suffer from the effects of inequality. Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said in December that it may be too late for the fair distribution of the vaccines due to the large transactions already being marketed by rich countries.

Rich countries, which make up 14% of the world’s population, had secured by 53% of the world’s supply of the best performing coronavirus vaccines by December, according to a group of human rights campaigners called the People’s Vaccine Alliance.

COVAX was established to strive for equitable access to vaccines worldwide, with the aim of vaccinating 20% ​​of the people in the 92 poorest countries in the world against donation. Several other middle-income countries will be vaccinated by COVAX on their own funds. The plan aims to deliver 2 billion doses of vaccines this year that have been approved by the WHO as safe and effective.

The shots delivered in Ghana were manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, which gained access to the intellectual property that enables it to manufacture vaccines according to the Oxford-AstraZeneca formula. The African Union has secured approximately 670 million doses of the Serum Institute’s vaccine for its member countries and 60% of the 1.3 million people in Africa must be vaccinated in the next two to three years.

“This is incredibly important. We want the gap between rich and poor to be narrowed to zero,” Hassan Damluji, deputy director of global policy and advocacy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday. . .

“We know that it usually takes decades between a vaccine being developed and used for the first time in rich countries, and then reaching the poorest people in the world. So Ghana must receive their first consignment, only three months from the “very first vaccine. rolling out in the world is extremely extraordinary,” he said. “It is by far the fastest ever.”

The Gates Foundation has spent $ 1.75 billion on efforts to combat the coronavirus and focus on developing vaccines within COVAX.

Damluji noted that the procurement of vaccines for poor countries in the program was fully funded by donors at a time when every developed world economy is in a recession. “So it’s remarkable,” he said.

The exclusion of poor countries from vaccination programs implemented in affluent countries will have devastating and long-lasting consequences, warn public health economists and experts, which dramatically increase inequalities, hamper social and economic development and leave many countries in significantly more debt.

These inequalities mean that the long-term economic damage of the pandemic in emerging markets will be twice as severe as in developed countries, according to Oxford Economics. And a study by RAND Corporation predicts that the world economy will lose $ 153 billion a year in production if emerging countries do not gain access to vaccines.

Countries on the COVAX donation plan will receive doses in proportion to their population: Afghanistan, for example, will receive 3 million doses, while Namibia will receive just under 130,000.

The Palestinian territories expect to receive vaccines via COVAX in March; Iran and Iraq are also part of COVAX, as are many low-income countries in the Middle East. Richer Gulf states have obtained their own vaccine shipments directly from manufacturers, while some also contribute to the COVAX donation pool despite their own recessions: Saudi Arabia contributed $ 300 million and Qatar donated $ 10 million.

The US did not contribute to the COVAX facility under the Trump administration, but the Biden government promised the largest donation to date – $ 4 billion.

Damluji took note of the challenges of COVAX’s objectives, conducting extensive vaccination campaigns in countries with faulty infrastructure, limited logistics and transportation options, remote populations and in some cases violence and war.

“This stuff is a gripping target. The world is rightly paying attention to this and he wants to make sure it goes well,” he said. “But a few months ago we did not even know what vaccinations would work. And now people need it on their doorstep.”

“There will be some complications that also arise,” he added. “This is the biggest health care effort ever.”