Mary Wilson
Well-known member
By HELEN BRANSWELL
AUGUST 28, 2020
The coming few weeks represent a crucial moment for an ambitious plan to try to secure Covid-19 vaccines for roughly 170 countries around the world without the deep pockets to compete for what will be scarce initial supplies.
Under the plan, countries that want to pool resources to buy vaccines must notify the World Health Organization and other organizers — Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, as well as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations — of their intentions by Monday. That means it’s fish-or-cut-bait time for the so-called COVAX facility.
Already, wealthy countries — the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, and Australia, among others, as well as the European Union — have opted to buy their own vaccine, signing bilateral contracts with manufacturers that have secured billions of doses of vaccine already. That raises the possibility that less wealthy countries will be boxed out of supplies.
And yet Richard Hatchett, the CEO of CEPI, insists there is a path to billions of doses of vaccine for the rest of the world in 2021. STAT spoke with Hatchett this week. A transcript of the conversation, lightly edited for clarity and length, follows.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/28...m_source=twitter&utm_campaign=twitter_organic
AUGUST 28, 2020
The coming few weeks represent a crucial moment for an ambitious plan to try to secure Covid-19 vaccines for roughly 170 countries around the world without the deep pockets to compete for what will be scarce initial supplies.
Under the plan, countries that want to pool resources to buy vaccines must notify the World Health Organization and other organizers — Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, as well as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations — of their intentions by Monday. That means it’s fish-or-cut-bait time for the so-called COVAX facility.
Already, wealthy countries — the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, and Australia, among others, as well as the European Union — have opted to buy their own vaccine, signing bilateral contracts with manufacturers that have secured billions of doses of vaccine already. That raises the possibility that less wealthy countries will be boxed out of supplies.
And yet Richard Hatchett, the CEO of CEPI, insists there is a path to billions of doses of vaccine for the rest of the world in 2021. STAT spoke with Hatchett this week. A transcript of the conversation, lightly edited for clarity and length, follows.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/28...m_source=twitter&utm_campaign=twitter_organic