WHO includes nine COVID vaccine candidates in COVAX, nine more under review: What is COVAX?

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom announced recently that WHO is reviewing nine more COVID-19 vaccine candidates to get them on board its COVAX global vaccines facility.

COVAX is a joint initiative of WHO and the GAVI alliance to develop and equitably distribute and an approved Covid-19 vaccine. The WHO Chief said that around 172 countries are engaged with COVAX. The facility has one of the most diverse vaccine portfolios in the world.

Currently, nine COVID vaccines have been included in the COVAX portfolio and a further nine candidates are under evaluation. This would 

What is COVAX?

• COVAX is a global initiative, which will bring together countries, international partners and vaccine manufacturers on one platform to provide all countries with equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines once they receive the required approvals.

• COVAX currently has the world’s largest and most diverse COVID-19 vaccine portfolios. The global initiative is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries.

• The COVAX facility will ensure equitable access to COVID vaccines by pooling buying power from participating economies and providing volume guarantees across a range of promising vaccine candidates.

• This will enable vaccine manufacturers whose expertise is important for large scale production of the new vaccines to make early at-risk investments in manufacturing capacity. This will ensure the participating nations the best chance of gaining quick access to doses of a successful COVID-19 vaccine.

Urgent, broadscale commitment & investment from countries is🔑to achieve the goal of COVAX to bring the pandemic under control by accelerating the development & manufacture of #COVID19 vaccines, & to guarantee fair & equitable access for all countries🌐

👉https://t.co/CPNzyTjsLz pic.twitter.com/jBupCY7dur

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) August 24, 2020

Objective

COVAX aims to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines and to guarantee fair and equitable access to vaccines for every country in the world. 

COVAX targets to deliver two billion doses of safe and effective vaccines that have passed regulatory approval by the end of 2021. The vaccines will be offered equally to all nations, in proportion to their population. Healthcare workers will be the initial priority, followed by vulnerable groups such as the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions. 

The doses will later be made available based on a country’s need, vulnerability and COVID-19 threat. The COVAX facility will also keep emergency doses for humanitarian use, including dealing with severe outbreaks.