Coronavirus: will vaccine deals lead to poorer countries missing out?

World leaders have called for vaccines to be a public good, but many countries are striking exclusive agreements with pharmaceutical firms

The ‘first thing to avoid … is the so-called vaccine nationalism’, GAVI director Zhang Li says

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Several coronavirus vaccine candidates have reached the final phase of human trials. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:00pm, 25 Jun 2020Updated: 3:10pm, 26 Jun 2020

Several coronavirus vaccine candidates have reached the final phase of human trials and others are not far behind, but who will benefit from them once they are ready for general distribution remains to be seen.

While the World Health Organisation and political leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping have all called for Covid-19 vaccines to be a global public good, in reality many countries are striking deals with pharmaceutical firms to make sure they are the first to benefit.

One of the vaccines near the head of the pack has been developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and licensed to AstraZeneca, which is expected to be made available to Britons by September. The British government struck a deal with the developer last month to have 30 million doses available by then with a further 70 million to come later.

The United States government also helped with development funding for the product and in return for that will receive 300 million doses of the vaccine.

Earlier this month, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands formed the Inclusive Vaccine Alliance to accelerate the development process and said they wanted pharmaceutical companies to agree that any products developed were made accessible, available and affordable across the European Union.

Canada, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates, which agreed to host phase three trials for vaccines developed by three Chinese firms, might also benefit, as their governments seek to secure deals to have the products – should they come to fruition – produced and distributed locally.

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