Berliner Boersenzeitung - Vaccine supply outstrips demand, access inequity remains

EUR -
AED 4.310546
AFN 80.452383
ALL 97.852997
AMD 449.184236
ANG 2.100545
AOA 1076.316439
ARS 1470.182173
AUD 1.792196
AWG 2.112725
AZN 1.995616
BAM 1.954853
BBD 2.361666
BDT 142.580904
BGN 1.954746
BHD 0.442359
BIF 3485.040818
BMD 1.173736
BND 1.498387
BOB 8.082118
BRL 6.553322
BSD 1.169938
BTN 100.185876
BWP 15.62736
BYN 3.827861
BYR 23005.229512
BZD 2.349471
CAD 1.605736
CDF 3387.402724
CHF 0.931741
CLF 0.02904
CLP 1114.392206
CNY 8.427719
CNH 8.427573
COP 4720.766995
CRC 589.924171
CUC 1.173736
CUP 31.104009
CVE 110.21206
CZK 24.64728
DJF 208.289949
DKK 7.461189
DOP 70.137206
DZD 152.215948
EGP 58.234568
ERN 17.606043
ETB 162.293017
FJD 2.634683
FKP 0.86477
GBP 0.862667
GEL 3.180901
GGP 0.86477
GHS 12.204718
GIP 0.86477
GMD 83.919178
GNF 10150.254075
GTQ 8.989682
GYD 244.602506
HKD 9.213741
HNL 30.585699
HRK 7.534566
HTG 153.516913
HUF 399.446217
IDR 19025.500867
ILS 3.90039
IMP 0.86477
INR 100.477042
IQD 1532.250934
IRR 49443.637218
ISK 143.406303
JEP 0.86477
JMD 186.978592
JOD 0.832134
JPY 171.534557
KES 151.353706
KGS 102.643075
KHR 4696.763932
KMF 494.143395
KPW 1056.336774
KRW 1610.955233
KWD 0.358377
KYD 0.974723
KZT 606.573467
LAK 25201.679741
LBP 104801.858765
LKR 351.638096
LRD 234.51735
LSL 20.881079
LTL 3.465738
LVL 0.709981
LYD 6.325961
MAD 10.563544
MDL 19.825477
MGA 5177.468908
MKD 61.529296
MMK 2464.26782
MNT 4212.021788
MOP 9.457517
MRU 46.632364
MUR 53.158745
MVR 18.072043
MWK 2028.208477
MXN 21.844289
MYR 4.986619
MZN 75.072031
NAD 20.848608
NGN 1793.469259
NIO 43.039509
NOK 11.831959
NPR 160.299049
NZD 1.953772
OMR 0.451302
PAB 1.169638
PEN 4.152288
PGK 4.906706
PHP 66.218623
PKR 333.93139
PLN 4.24335
PYG 9065.645346
QAR 4.264951
RON 5.07688
RSD 117.150422
RUB 91.78974
RWF 1683.13771
SAR 4.403591
SBD 9.78535
SCR 17.163675
SDG 704.848441
SEK 11.146861
SGD 1.501097
SHP 0.922372
SLE 26.412043
SLL 24612.665539
SOS 668.473206
SRD 43.72226
STD 24293.969568
SVC 10.233997
SYP 15261.070484
SZL 20.847808
THB 38.275501
TJS 11.316464
TMT 4.119814
TND 3.420957
TOP 2.749007
TRY 46.995458
TTD 7.942117
TWD 34.323607
TZS 3083.99385
UAH 48.8892
UGX 4198.983032
USD 1.173736
UYU 47.317271
UZS 14868.794483
VES 133.343825
VND 30656.228929
VUV 140.031334
WST 3.23172
XAF 655.636481
XAG 0.032227
XAU 0.000354
XCD 3.172081
XDR 0.815401
XOF 655.642064
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.868298
ZAR 20.882715
ZMK 10565.068428
ZMW 28.452333
ZWL 377.942577
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Vaccine supply outstrips demand, access inequity remains
Vaccine supply outstrips demand, access inequity remains

Vaccine supply outstrips demand, access inequity remains

After two years of racing to vaccinate the world against Covid-19, the number of available doses now surpasses demand in many areas.

Text size:

Yet a yawning gap remains in vaccination rates between the richest and poorest countries.

On Friday, Gavi, which co-leads the Covax global distribution scheme, is holding a summit calling for more funds to address the issue of inequality in vaccine access.

- Huge production -

More than 13 billion doses have been produced since the pandemic, 11 billion of which have been administered, according to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).

Science research group Airfinity expect nine billion more doses to be produced this year. Pfizer alone plans to make four billion doses.

Yet demand could fall to six billion doses this year, IFPMA's director general Thomas Cueni said.

"Since mid-2021, global vaccine production has exceeded global vaccine demand and this gap has continuously risen," Cueni told AFP.

By next year, production could exceed demand by 1.3 to 3.1 billion doses, he added.

Many richer nations are now approaching oversupply. European Union and G7 countries had a surplus of 497 million doses at the end of last month.

There are fears that doses could go to waste. Covid vaccines have a relatively short shelf-life -- AstraZeneca and Novavax's jabs have a six-month expiry date.

Airfinity says 241 million doses have passed their sell-by date so far during the pandemic.

- Billions unvaccinated -

Nevertheless, billions of people remain unvaccinated around the world, most of them in developing nations.

Covax, an international public-private partnership co-led by WHO and Gavi, has delivered 1.4 billion doses to 145 countries -- far short of the planned two billion doses by end-2021.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that inequality in vaccine access could lead to the emergence of new, possibly more contagious variants.

The WHO wants 70 percent of every country's population vaccinated by July.

But records are uneven.

Nearly 80 percent of France's population, for example, has received two doses. But only 15 percent of the population on the continent of Africa is fully vaccinated, according to Oxford University data.

An average of 42 percent of the population of 92 low- and middle-income countries participating in Covax have had one dose.

"Vaccine inequity is the biggest moral failure of our times and people and countries are paying the price," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said earlier this year.

Covax says it now has enough doses to vaccinate around 45 percent of the population in the 92 countries receiving donations. But 25 of those countries lack the infrastructure for an effective immunisation campaign.

Making matters worse, many developing countries are being donated doses too close to their expiry date.

UNICEF's supply division director Etleva Kadilli said that in December almost more than 100 million doses had been refused, "the majority due to product shelf life".

Gavi has ruled that doses must be valid for at least 10 weeks on arriving in countries.

- Patent gridlock -

Countries like South Africa and India have long called for the World Trade Organization to suspend intellectual property rights for vaccines and anti-Covid treatments, so they can massively boost production.

After fierce opposition from pharmaceutical giants, a first compromise was reached between the United States, European Union, India and South Africa last month.

But several key countries like Switzerland have yet to sign on. Doctors Without Borders also says there are "key limitations" in the deal, such as covering only vaccines and geographical limits.

Pharmaceutical companies argue that patents are not the real problem.

Cueni of IFPMA, a big pharma lobby group, said the problem was now logistics.

"What we need is money to have storage, transportation, more trained health workers, campaigns to counter misinformation: these are the real challenges and not the patent waiver," he said.

- New variants -

Current vaccines target the virus that swept the world in 2020. While they greatly reduce the risk of serious illness from Covid, they only provide partial protection -- particularly against newer variants such as the now dominant Omicron.

Several vaccine manufacturers have begun testing jabs that target Omicron. They have hit delays but could be available in a few months, if approved by health authorities.

And despite the billions yet to receive a first dose, the United States, Britain, France and Israel have started rolling out a fourth, starting with the most vulnerable.

On Wednesday, the EU's medicines watchdog approved a second booster for people aged 80 years and over.

"No country can boost its way out of the pandemic," Tedros has warned.

lem-ic-burs-dl/jm

(A.Lehmann--BBZ)