For months, critics have prodded drug companies to do more for the world. Now, as Covid-19 surges, U.S. and global policymakers are struggling to get shots into arms.
the manufacturing capacity for both Moderna and Pfizer to help create supply for the rest of the world, according to two individuals with direct knowledge of the matter.
Senior Biden administration officials are confident Pfizer will significantly ramp up the number of doses it makes available for international distribution at the beginning of next year. But it is still unclear whether other wealthy western countries, particularly those in Europe, will increase their shipments at a pace that matches the U.S.
In a statement to POLITICO, a White House official said the administration is just “getting started” on its work to help vaccinate the world. Despite the call for more help to vaccinate the world, COVAX last year struggled to build sufficient stockpiles of Covid-19 doses and raise funds to erect the infrastructure needed to help put shots in arms. COVAX has downgraded its vaccination targets.
A woman pushes a baby stroller in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. Austria went into a nationwide lockdown early Monday to combat soaring coronavirus infections, a step being closely watched by other European governments struggling with national outbreaks that are straining health care systems. | Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo
The stakes are not new, Caprani and other global health experts said. Since the beginning of 2021, when the vaccine first became available, they have warned about what could happen if countries in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia did not receive first dosesAfter securing enough first doses for their populations, wealthy nations began making pledges this spring to eventually deliver large quantities to those countries.
scrutiny not only from low- and middle-income countries but also from advocates at home who say the U.S. should not move forward with a massive booster rollout domestically before more of the world receives first doses. Others note that the U.S. has not put enough pressure on American pharmaceutical giants to share their technology with the globe so others can step up their own vaccine production.
White House officials feared the U.S. vaccine donations would cost too much — and that the optics of giving doses away while the virus raged at home would hurt the president politically. Officials also raised serious health concerns about what the Biden administration would do if another surge emerged and there were not enough doses for those seeking inoculation.
When the Biden administration came into office, officials on the White House Covid-19 task force tried for months to convince Moderna to rework its contract and allow the federal government to more easily send its shots overseas and to strike a deal with COVAX to sell its product at a low cost.for 500 million doses for COVAX, albeit with only 34 million of those to be delivered by the end of 2021. COVAX is still waiting for the shipment.
Last month, Moderna pledged to set up an mRNA manufacturing facility in Africa that would help the continent more easily access doses. But the company has offered few details about the plans for that operation, including how many doses will be manufactured and where the hub will be located. “The vast majority of the population outside of the highest-income countries have yet to receive a first dose, and that deplorable status quo is going to continue,” said Asia Russell, the executive director of Health GAP, the Global Access Project.
“These experts would then distribute that know-how themselves to capable manufacturers around the world, similar to how they have transferred technology globally for flu vaccine,” Mukherjee said. Meanwhile, Biden officials say there are situations largely out of the administration’s control, such as vaccine production lags and distribution roadblocks, that limit the ability for the U.S. and COVAX to not only ship doses but also to ensure shots get into arms on the ground.
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