WHO’s COVAX Program to Start Rolling Out Coronavirus Vaccines This Month

The World Health Organization (WHO)’s COVAX initiative is set to begin distributing vaccines to low- and middle-income nations this month, following the organization’s approval of an emergency-use listing of the AstraZeneca (AZ)/Oxford vaccine.

The COVAX program, which aims to distribute coronavirus vaccines to low- and middle-income nations in an effort to help vaccinate their populations and ensure more equitable global vaccine distribution, anticipates making its first vaccine shipments to countries late this month and the bulk of its initial deliveries in March. Before countries can receive their allocations under the initiative, they must give regulatory authorization for the vaccines, sign liability agreements with relevant vaccine makers and submit national deployment and vaccination plans.

In total, the WHO said it will deliver nearly 150 million doses of the AZ/Oxford vaccine in the first quarter and 336 million doses in the first half of 2021. Earlier this week, the WHO authorized versions of the vaccine manufactured by South Korea’s SK Bioscience and the Serum Institute of India for preventing COVID-19 in patients age 18 and up, including the elderly.

The organization’s emergency-use listing, which indicates it has found a vaccine is safe and effective and meets quality criteria, is depended upon by many developing nations that cannot adequately evaluate vaccines on their own.

“Countries with no access to vaccines to date will finally be able to start vaccinating their health workers and populations at risk,” said Mariângela Simão, WHO Assistant-Director General for Access to Medicines and Health Products. ‘But we must keep up the pressure to meet the needs of priority populations everywhere and facilitate global access. To do that, we need two things — a scale-up of manufacturing capacity and developers’ early submission of their vaccines for WHO review.”

The program has set an end-of-year goal of delivering at least 2 billion vaccine doses to 145 countries, including 92 low- and middle-income nations, and vaccinating approximately 20 percent of those developing countries’ populations. Vaccinations will initially focus on healthcare workers and people most vulnerable to the virus.

Though concerns have been raised after study findings suggested the AZ/Oxford vaccine doesn’t protect against mild-to-moderate COVID-19 caused by a South African viral variant, Western governments and WHO have both defended continued use of the vaccine, contending the inoculation still shields against severe illness and death. The findings persuaded South Africa to put its AZ/Oxford vaccination program on hold in order to assess the shot further (DID, Feb. 9). AZ has not yet filed for the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which has also received an emergency-use listing from the WHO and is authorized in the U.S., will see significantly less distribution under the COVAX program. The Pfizer vaccine is less viable for the initiative due to its higher price, tighter supply and ultra-cold temperature requirements that present significant distribution and storage challenges for many countries. COVAX anticipates that it will have an initial 1.2 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine available for distribution in the first quarter and additional supplies available in the second quarter, thanks to a 40 million dose advance purchase agreement.

Under the Biden administration, the U.S. is moving to increase its involvement in global coronavirus efforts, including the COVAX initiative. In December, Congress allocated $4 billion to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is co-leading the COVAX initiative, and more funding is expected to be granted by the administration. — James Miessler