Since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, the Global Health Centre has been collecting and publishing data on Covid-19 vaccines to analyse how production, R&D investment, and distribution are affecting global access to countermeasures. The Centre has compiled several resources to shed light on who funds, develops and manufactures Covid-19 vaccines in order to help stakeholders understand the global situation and inform policymakers.
Our research team recently published new observations that indicate that COVAX has significantly accelerated its vaccine delivery in the past months, and reached the milestone of delivering 1 billion doses on 15 January 2022. Despite this advancement, vaccine access continues to be limited for low- and middle-income countries. Our database updates reveal new purchases by several high-income countries including the EU, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and the UK, which include the option of accessing variant-adapted vaccines. At the same time, a new report highlights that high-income countries received more doses towards the end of 2021, than the total doses delivered to African countries throughout the year.
Our research shows that vaccine donations and deliveries have progressed at different rates. While Germany donated 100m doses in 2021, Australia had distributed only 15% of its committed doses. Media reports have warned that recipient countries are not always able to use donated doses, including an instance where Nigeria reportedly had to destroy 1m of soon-to-expire donated doses in December 2021. However, donations remain the main form of vaccine support, and new pledges and deliveries were announced by China, Brazil, Israel, Cuba, and Taiwan.
Recent data also present the evolution of the Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing landscape. WHO’s technology transfer hub in South Africa made significant progress in replicating Modena’s mRNA vaccine. Johnson & Johnson and Aspen Pharmacare of South Africa signed a licensing agreement making Aspen the first African company with the rights to distribute and price the vaccine. Baylor College of Medicine also licensed its patent-free Covid-19 vaccine to Bangladesh’s manufacturer Incepta Vaccine Ltd. while Nepal initiated talks for local manufacturing of Gamaleya’s vaccine.
