IDB to launch program to facilitate access to COVID-19 vaccines in region: “It’s like an insurance policy”

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to launch new program to help Latin American countries access more COVID-19 vaccines. It was announced this Thursday by Mauricio Claver-Carone, its president, during a virtual press conference in which he participated Infobae.

With the exception of Chile, which has already vaccinated more than 20% of its population and administers more daily doses per capita than any other country in the world, vaccination campaigns they come far behind in the rest of the region. From Mexico to Argentina, virtually all are below 5 doses per 100 people – Brazil just exceeded that ratio – and there is no sign of accelerating in the short term.

“We need vaccines to reach the region in order to save lives and boost the economy”Claver-Carone said at the press conference, in which he recalled that the IDB has made available $ 1,000 million to finance the various stages of vaccination campaigns: from purchase to storage and distribution. “We worked specifically with nine countries that asked us for additional help.: Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago ”, he added.

“There is no crisis more serious today than the democratization of vaccines”said the American. “In developed countries there is a bottleneck in production and most of the supply has been reserved, so the COVAX mechanism has been slower than expected and Latin America has fallen behind. “, he said, referring to the program coordinated by WHO to ensure the supply of vaccines to developing countries.

Claver-Carone explained that one of the reasons for the delay observed in less wealthy countries is the conditions required by laboratories to sign contracts. For this reason, the IDB will offer a guarantee scheme, which aims to cover states in case of problems and provide reinsurance to companies.

“We realized that during negotiations with pharmaceutical companies, They asked them for indemnification clauses, to which many other things were added later, such as the creation of trusts to guarantee possible liability issues., and now we see that they are even asking for new regulatory frameworks, ”Claver-Carone said.

“What we are announcing today – he continued – is a financial instrument that will serve as a guarantee of the terms and conditions for the delivery of vaccines, in the event of a contingency. The IDB is the first international financial institution to create a product of this type ”.

More specifically, this financial instrument aims to cover the needs of laboratories without exposing States. “It’s like an insurance policy, both for countries and for pharmaceutical companies, which claim certain liability provisions. As it is difficult for States because of their legal frameworks or because they have never done so, we are proposing an instrument which offers this guarantee in the event of the activation of liability clauses ”.

The official criticized the laboratories, which he subtly accused of taking advantage of governments’ desperation to vaccinate their populations. “The region is desperate, it needs vaccines. And, I’ll be honest, the drug companies know. There is a progression in the terms they ask for, which are becoming more and more onerous. First, they say “we need you to create a trust to support (the purchase)”; then they say “now we need you to change your whole regulatory framework and pass laws that guarantee compensation provisions”. It gets worse and worse“.

The Argentine government was one of those who expressed objections to the conditions demanded by Pfizer to sell the vaccine developed in collaboration with BioNTech. Ginés González García, former health minister, said in December last year that the laboratory had called for “unacceptable conditions” to sign the agreements. He avoided giving details because confidentiality clauses apply, but what emerged was that Pfizer claimed to have legal immunity against possible adverse consequences of the vaccine.

Claver-Carone referred to the Argentinian government’s proposals, one of nine that the IDB is working more closely with to provide financial assistance. “We heard about your concerns during the negotiations you had with the pharmaceutical companies. It is one of the countries which has expressed its concerns to us and which will have access to this instrument. We look forward to working together to resolve any issues you may have. “

The official was optimistic about the effect this new financial tool can have. “We hope this will help in bilateral negotiations between countries and pharmaceutical companies. We spoke with some companies to see what other ways the bank can accelerate vaccine deployment in the region.. We are literally working day and night, ”said the head of the IDB.

“It could break the biggest bottleneck in the negotiations. And we’re not going to stop here. We will continue to innovate, trying to be creative, ”he added. Either way, he tried to temper his enthusiasm: “I don’t think that’s a quick fix either.”

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