Story at a glance
- The World Health Organization warned against vaccine hoarding as countries sign deals with drug manufacturers.
- Its COVAX initiative will work to prevent this.
World Health Organization (WHO) officials are warning of a troubling possibility of “vaccine nationalism,” or the instance where an individual country hoards coronavirus vaccine doses for its own population, Reuters reports.
“We need to prevent vaccine nationalism,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an audience during a virtual briefing. “Sharing finite supplies strategically and globally is actually in each country’s national interest.”
To encourage this, the WHO called for wealthier nations to join a group called the COVAX Global Vaccines Facility, which would enable the sharing of potential vaccine candidates with developing countries.
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Multiple nations, including the U.S., have inked deals with pharmaceutical companies that are testing potential coronavirus treatments.
Reuters notes that the European Union has advised its member countries to hold off on joining the venture, amid concerns of timeliness.
Other nations are reportedly waiting for the looming Aug. 31 deadline before committing. Bruce Aylward, the head of the WHO’s accelerator initiative to fast track COVID-19 treatments and equipment, noted that the COVAX’s terms are still being finalized.
“We are not twisting arms for people to join,” Aylward told reporters. “We’ve had more and more discussions with a broader and broader group of players … to work through what might be the barriers to collaborating – issues around price, issues around timing, issues around national expectations.”
More than 150 vaccines globally are in development, with several beginning human trials. The WHO says that joining COVAX can help nations enter into bilateral or multilateral vaccine trade agreements when a strong vaccine candidate emerges.
“Which one will be the candidate that will be successful, we don’t know yet,” Mariangela Simao, a WHO assistant director for drug and vaccine access, said. “By joining the facility at the same time that you do bilateral deals, you’re actually betting on a larger number of vaccine candidates.”
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