Vaccine Nationalism



What is vaccine nationalism?

  • When a country manages to secure doses of vaccines for its own citizens or residents and prioritises its own domestic markets before they are made available in other countries it is known as ‘vaccine nationalism’. 

    • This is done through pre-purchase agreements between a government and a vaccine manufacturer.

      • For example, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the European Union have spent tens of billions of dollars on deals with vaccine front runners such as Pfizer Inc, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca Plc even before their effectiveness is proven.


Pre-purchase agreements:

  • It is an agreement where, even before the end of final stage human trials or regulatory approval, several wealthier countries enter into pre-purchase agreements with vaccine manufacturers.

History of Vaccine Nationalism

  • The process of hoarding vaccines can be traced back to a similar situation that happened in 2009 during the H1N1 flu pandemic.

    • Australia, the first country to come up with a vaccine, blocked exports while some of the wealthiest countries entered into pre-purchase agreements with several pharmaceutical companies. The US alone obtained the right to buy 600,000 doses.

    • It was only when the H1N1 pandemic began to recede that developed countries offered to donate vaccine doses to poorer economies.


Concern Raised by WHO

  • The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that nations will hoard Covid-19 vaccines, it will exclude others and would deepen the pandemic.

  • Drawbacks: The major drawback of vaccine nationalism is that it puts countries with fewer resources and bargaining power at a disadvantage. 

    • Thus, if countries with a large number of cases lag in obtaining the vaccine, the disease will continue to disrupt global supply chains and, as a result, economies around the world.

    • There are fears that such advance agreements will make the initial few vaccines unaffordable and inaccessible to everyone apart from the rich countries in a world of roughly 8 billion people.


  • Alternative mechanism: To bring about equitable and broad access, WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and Gavi have come up with an initiative known as ‘Covax Facility’. 

    • The facility aims to procure at least two billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of next year for deployment and distribution mainly in the low- and middle-income countries.


Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI): 

  • It is a foundation that takes donations from public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organisations, to finance independent research projects to develop vaccines against emerging infectious diseases (EID).

  • CEPI was conceived in 2015 and formally launched in 2017 at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. 

    • Founder: It was co-founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Wellcome Trust, and a consortium of nations, being Norway, Japan, Germany; to which the European Union (2019) and Britain (2020) subsequently joined. 

    • CEPI is headquartered in Oslo, Norway.


GAVI:

  • It is the Vaccine Alliance is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.

  • GAVI brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialised and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists. 

  • GAVI has observer status at the World Health Assembly.

  • Its Headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

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