Vaccine nationalism threatens global competition to stop coronaviruses

That’s what happened in 2009 Australia requested Biotechnology manufacturer CSL meets the domestic need for H1N1 vaccines before shipping to the US.

And that’s exactly the scenario that public health professionals fear when the world participates in scientifically turbocharged but chaotic competition, creating and producing coronavirus vaccines. “I’m the first” vaccine nationalism attacks the country to get and maintain adequate doses to the public rather than extensive cooperation, coordination and sharing.

Instead of working together to pool resources, countries are focusing on their own vaccine development programs. There is little agreement to share the vaccine when it becomes available, so it will be accessible first-line to healthcare workers and those at the COVID-19 hotspot internationally.

Moreover, as evidenced by what happened in Australia, no matter what the contract is, the country where the vaccine is manufactured breaks export restrictions and ensures that its population receives first guidance. can do.

When it comes to making a vaccine, the United States has mainly chosen to use it alone. It declined to participate in international development efforts and, in return, reduced billions of dollars worth of pre-dealings with pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies for dose control of billions of dollars.

It’s a dangerous bet that experts say.

“Since we have several candidates, many simply think that it is the United States that will get the (vaccine) first. But that may not be the case. There is,” said Amesh Adalha, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Health and Safety Center.

Through the White House Coronavirus effort, we plan to invest in approximately seven vaccine candidates, called Operation Warp Speed ​​in the United States. that is 21 vaccine candidates currently in clinical trials According to the World Health Organization, another 139 worldwide and in preclinical assessment.

According to people at Operation Warp Speed, all sharing work will only be done after America’s needs have been met.

“The vaccine and treatment candidates invested by Operation Warpspeed are the ones that OWS believes are the most promising. OWS is friendly to the security of our country to develop safe and effective COVID-19 measures. We will work with all countries that appear to be targeted,” said the official.

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The approaching presidential elections in November, however, could bring policy changes if the White House changes hands. Democratic nominee Joe Biden told healthcare activists Wednesday.Absolutely positivePromises technology sharing and access to coronavirus vaccines in the first US finish line.

In any case, there is no certainty that one of the US candidate vaccines will reach it. Some estimates say that vaccines that have reached human clinical trials have a 17% chance of success. Kate Elder, Senior Vaccine Policy Advisor at the Borderless Doctors Group, advocates making vaccines affordable and accessible to all.

“It’s a big failure rate,” she said.

Other countries are at least considering a more collaborative approach. European Union is creating European vaccine strategy Members pool funding, research and manufacturing resources. The resulting vaccine will be assigned to all members.

France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands “is createdComprehensive vaccine alliance“Pooling vaccine development resources to secure vaccine supply to Europe, while at the same time providing equitable access to vaccines in all countries.

Another effort COVID-19 Global Vaccine Access Facility (Covax). A higher focus is placed on low and middle income countries, where each country pools resources for research, manufacturing and pre-purchase agreements, each of which can gain a share of the vaccine.

It is still a work in progress, launched in June, with the goal of countering vaccine nationalism and giving poor countries seats at the vaccine table.

David Fiddler, Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Affairs, said joining a global vaccine partnership of this sort would be a form of insurance that the United States refused.

“(It) will buy at least two candidate vaccines, and if at least one vaccine works, it will be at least part of the production,” he said.

Global health means sharing vaccines

Another issue is sharing.

Ideally for public health professionals, countries in the world will work together to create vaccines. Once proven to be safe and effective, Formula is licensed to all facilities capable of manufacturing it. The resulting dose goes first to the frontline health care workers in viral hotspots around the world, then to health care workers around the world, and then to the rest of the world.

That’s the best way to protect everyone, said Robbie Silberman, senior adviser to Oxfam, a UK-based international poverty eradication organization.

“This is a global pandemic. If the disease is anywhere in the world, it will recur in the United States,” said Silberman, who is working on the issue of health and inequality.

Public health experts admit that we do not live in an ideal world.

“It’s hard to see politicians say,” Yeah, give 30% of our vaccines to sub-Saharan African countries,” Fiddler said.

So far, few countries other than the Vaccine Consortium have promised sharing with disadvantaged countries. Jason Schwartz, a professor of health policy at Yale University School of Public Health, admits it’s a daunting sell.

“But that is the health of the world. What we do to help resource-free countries is not right. It also helps us,” he said.

The United States does not take that approach. In June, US officials said the country’s top priority was to get a coronavirus vaccine for everyone in the United States who wanted it.

“Let’s take care of Americans first. Authorities said they could use the surplus vaccine “as long as there is surplus” to reliably vaccinate the rest of the world.

With the same momentum, America Purchase over 90% of the world’s supply of lemdecivir Next 3 months. It’s one of the few proven treatments for COVID-19, and the purchase announced on July 1st remains largely absent in other countries.

It’s not just the United States that thinks of itself first. Over the past six months, more than 46 countries have seen masks, gloves, disinfectants, respirators, etc., according to Simon Evernett, a professor of international trade at St. Gallen University in Switzerland and founder of world trade. Is said to impose export restrictions on pharmaceutical products. A warning initiative to track trade protectionism.

But such behavior is not a good recipe to stop what the COVID-19 public health experts say. As the World Health Organization says, “No one is safe until everyone is safe.”

Geopolitics of securing vaccines

The last concern is that once one or more vaccines are available, possession will be one-tenth of the law. The country where the vaccine is manufactured may not release the vaccine, regardless of the manufacturer’s contracts with other countries.

Under international law, every country has the sovereign right to seize private property for the public good. According to Fidler, the confiscation of the vaccine is exactly what it was in the midst of an emergency.

“It doesn’t allow or sign off any country in connection with vaccine development,” he said.

Therefore, even if one country has a contract to manufacture a certain amount of vaccine in another country, that country can be legally “expropriated”.

“It’s not just a horror,” said Sam Harabi, a law professor at the University of Missouri and a specialist in world health law. Even the best-written contracts can’t “dull vaccine geopolitics.”

Eventually, Thomas Boleyky, director of the Council on Foreign Health’s Global Health Program, said he hopes these contracts will be honored in the end.

At present, countries are rocking their position, trying to put their countries in the best position so that as many vaccines as possible are available as soon as one or more vaccines are available.

He also said that any attempt to make the distribution of the vaccine more equitable, and anything likely to stop the pandemic globally, should be done now.

“We are running out of time,” he said. “Everything that focuses on allocating according to public health needs, not a public wallet, takes some time to put together and runs out.”

Contact Weise at [email protected]

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