Australia Sourced Extra Pfizer From A Program Designed To Help Vaccinate Poorer Nations
Last month, Australia received double the amount of doses that were given to the entire continent of Africa.
Australia has reportedly accessed a batch of Pfizer vaccines from a scheme called COVAX — which aims to save vaccines for poorer countries.
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that in June, Australia purchased 25 million doses from the global COVAX program, and has since cashed in on 500,000 Pfizer doses from that purchase — “double what the entire continent of Africa received under COVAX in the same month”. Britain also received roughly 530,000 doses from the program around the same period.
COVAX is a program that was spearheaded by WHO in April last year to recognise the needs of low and middle-income countries in having equal access to COVID-19 vaccines. By pooling the investments of more than 90 upper-income countries, the development of vaccines could be accelerated, and hopefully benefit 92 lower-income countries.
The COVAX mission statement touts the project is “founded on the principle of equitable access. This means any country, regardless of their ability to pay, has the same access to vaccines…ending the pandemic as quickly as possible will take a global effort…It’s not about one country versus another. It’s about one world, protected.”
Under COVAX, investments from rich countries including Australia ensure there is vaccine supply for poorer nations, while also allowing access to a portfolio of vaccines to choose from. Australia has paid $123 million to purchase vaccines and provided another $80 million for low-income nations’ supply. The idea of COVAX was that richer nations would wait in line, as they have more power to make direct deals with manufacturers. But that sentiment seems to have been lost as each country scrambles to reach an element of immunity.
“Under a second stream,” the SMH reports. “Countries including Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand have also dipped into the scheme to purchase vaccines on the basis that their domestic supplies have fallen short of expectations.” Canada promised to stop accessing doses via the COVAX program after receiving criticism.
The COVAX program has run into other snags, including issues around distribution that have seen vaccines with no way to move from the tarmac of poorer nations into arms. Some nations such as Rwanda that are eligible for COVAX supplies have being going directly to the vaccine manufacturers.
A Catastrophic Moral Failure
The director-general of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in January the world was facing a “catastrophic moral failure” with regards to vaccine supply. “Even as they speak the language of equitable access, some countries and companies continue to prioritize bilateral deals, going around COVAX, driving up prices and attempting to jump to the front of the queue. This is wrong.
“The price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries.”
Professor Sarah Joseph and Dr Gregory Dore said in The Conversation last month, “We are too focused on our own situation in Australia to realise the damage our fickle approach to vaccines is doing to global vaccine equity. We are also forgetting our human rights obligations to help speed up access to vaccines for all.”
“While large populations remain unvaccinated, variants of concern such as Delta will continue to evolve and may compromise global vaccine protection. Furthermore, global economic and social activity cannot return to anything like normal without extensive COVID-19 vaccination in all nations.”
Another day, another wild vaccination story. But if you want to make the most of the huge amounts of AstraZeneca we have, (indirectly taking a little pressure off the Pfizer demand), here’s some info on how you can get it.