Page 7 - rockefeller vaccination plan

Rich nations have also relied almost entirely on a small Advocates have called for governments to waive intel-
number of pharmaceutical companies to develop and lectual property protections for commercially produced
manufacture the hundreds of millions of vaccine doses Covid-19 vaccines in hopes that other manufacturers
needed for their populations. These companies deserve and particularly those in the developing world can make
enormous praise for their efforts and the billions in these life-saving medicines themselves much less
profits that some have reaped are richly deserved. But expensively. But patents are not the principle hindrance
private manufacturers will not invest the further billions to immediate vaccine production. Negotiations to waive
needed to vaccinate much of the developing world intellectual property protections will take months and
without purchase contracts in hand, let alone ensure must resolve the technical and regulatory barriers that
the equitable distribution of vaccines. In short, private copy-cat manufacturers cannot resolve on their own in
enterprise alone cannot resolve the Covid-19 pandemic. order to produce safe and effective vaccines.

The Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A)

In April 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners launched the Access to Covid-19 Tools
Accelerator (ACT-A). ACT-A contains four pillars to drive equitable access: one for diagnostics, one for
therapeutics, one to support in-country delivery of Covid-19 tools, and one focused on vaccines, also
known as COVAX.

VACCINES THERAPEUTICS DIAGNOSTICS HEALTH SYSTEMS
CONNECTOR

COVAX drives the research, development, and Given the progress vaccinations are making in
manufacturing of a wide range of Covid-19 vaccine slowing the spread of the disease, funding COVAX
candidates with the ability to negotiate pricing. The is critical to get control of the pandemic. COVAX
initiative’s initial aim is to have two billion doses needs US$9.3 billion to lock in 1.8 billion vaccine
available by the end of 2021 to cover frontline workers doses. Securing 1.8 billion doses would enable the
and high-risk populations in low- and middle-income vaccination of roughly half the adult population
countries. Unfortunately, COVAX’s efforts to vaccinate of the 92 Advance Market Commitment countries
92 low- and middle-income countries has neither the (AMC). On June 2nd, Japan will host a Summit to
financial resources nor access to the vaccine supply try to raise the necessary support. Once funding
it needs and therefore is not on target to meet its for 2021 is secured, the G7 and the G20 need to be
modest objectives for 2021. All four pillars of ACT-A ready to step up to complete funding of vaccinations
currently face an US$18.5 billion shortfall for the full for all countries as well as to expand Covid-19 testing
breadth of the pandemic response (costs for testing, and treatment capacities across the rest of ACT-A to
treatment, vaccines and in country support). fully end this pandemic.

THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION ONE FOR ALL AN UPDATED ACTION PLAN FOR GLOBAL COVID-19 VACCINATION 6