[ 2021-02-19 ]

US will not send vaccines to developing countries until supply improves

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The US will not donate any coronavirus vaccine
doses to developing countries until there is a
plentiful supply of jabs in the US, Biden
administration officials said on Thursday in a
firm rejection of a proposal made by Emmanuel
Macron, president of France.

Macron told the Financial Times this week that
Europe and the US should urgently donate up to 5
per cent of their current vaccine supplies to
developing countries, including in Africa, where
Covid-19 inoculation campaigns have barely started
and China and Russia are offering to fill the
gap.

“Our current focus is on vaccinating Americans,
getting shots in arms here,” one official said
during a briefing with reporters. Another official
said US President Joe Biden had asked
administration staff to look into options for
donating “surplus” vaccines “once there is a
sufficient supply” to meet domestic demand.

However, the second official said the US would
make $2bn of funding available “almost
immediately” to Covax, the global initiative to
supply vaccines to developing countries, with a
further $2bn over the next two years.

“While we’re not able to share vaccine doses
at this time?.?.?. we’re working hard to support
Covax and strengthen global vaccination around the
world,” the official added. 

The official said it was “absolutely
imperative” to end the pandemic globally:
“Pandemics travel, as we know. And we also know
that the more disease that’s out there, the more
likely we are to see additional mutations and
variants.”

The funding commitment from the White House came
as US vaccine developer Novavax, one of the
surprise success stories in the race to develop
jabs, announced a deal to supply 1.1bn doses to
Covax.

Seth Berkley, chief executive of Gavi, one of the
partners behind Covax, said the agreement brings
them “one step closer” to ending the acute
phase of the pandemic. “It helps us close in on
our goal of delivering 2bn doses in 2021 and
increases the range of vaccines available to
us,” he said. 

Maryland-based Novavax has received $400m in
funding from the Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations, another Covax partner,
and $1.6bn from the US government’s Operation
Warp Speed, to develop a vaccine and scale up its
manufacturing.

The company is collaborating with the Serum
Institute of India to expand manufacturing for
low- and middle-income countries. 

Novavax is close to getting its first approval,
probably in the UK, after it showed strong
efficacy of 89 per cent in interim data from its
phase 3 trial.

Source - FT, UK

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