Explainer: The World Health Organization’s fight for a global COVID-19 vaccination plan

(Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday urged countries to join a global pact to ensure poorer countries access to COVID-19 vaccines, warning of the risks of the so-called “Vaccine nationalism”. Here’s a look at the WHO plan and the approaches of richer countries.

WHAT IS THE WHO VACCINE PROGRAM?

The COVAX Global Vaccine Facility is a program designed to pool funds from wealthier countries and nonprofits to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and distribute it fairly around the world. Its goal is to deliver 2 billion doses of effective and approved COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021.

Details of the program are still being worked out ahead of the August 31 deadline for nations to join. It is led by WHO, with the Gavi Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

COVAX is part of a larger program, called the COVID-19 Tool Access Accelerator (ACT), which ensures that vaccines, treatments, diagnostic tests and other health resources are widely available to fight the pandemic .

WHAT ARE THE RICHEST NATIONS DOING?

They have focused on making vaccines safe for their own citizens, making deals for the first doses even as data has yet to prove the vaccines are effective.

Governments like the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and the European Union have spent tens of billions of dollars on deals with vaccine makers such as Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) and others. The United States alone has committed nearly $ 11 billion to the development, testing, manufacturing, and storage of hundreds of millions of doses.

Russia and China are also working on vaccines and have already started vaccinating some of their citizens.

WHAT TYPES OF RESOURCES ARE APPROVED?

The ACT Accelerator is funded by a variety of non-profit organizations and governments. It aims to raise around $ 31 billion.

So far, the COVAX installation has attracted interest from 92 poorer countries hoping for voluntary donations and 80 richer countries, a figure little changed from a month ago, which would fund the program. , according to the WHO.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH WHO?

The WHO has expressed concern that richer countries hoarding vaccines for their own citizens could hamper efforts to end the pandemic.

“We must prevent vaccine nationalism,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a virtual briefing on Tuesday. “Sharing scarce supplies strategically and globally is actually in the national interest of each country.”

WHO leaders said developing a coordinated global distribution system for COVID-19 vaccines prioritizing those most at risk of becoming ill, such as healthcare workers, would help curb the spread of the coronavirus around the world.