NEW DELHI (AP) – With growing cases of coronavirus, Honduras is tired of waiting for vaccines through a United Nations program, so the small Central American country has erupted on its own, securing the fires by private agreement.
Honduras “cannot wait for red tape or wrong decisions” to give citizens “peace of mind” offered by COVID-19 vaccine, said Juan Carlos Sikaffy, chairman of Honduras’ private business council, which helped complete the acquisition by providing a bank guarantee.
And other nations are getting impatient. Unlike past outbreaks, where less affluent countries have generally waited for vaccines to be delivered by the UN and other organizations, many are now taking matters into their own hands. Experts are increasingly concerned that these go-it-alone efforts could undermine a UN-backed program to obtain COVID-19 photos of the most needy people around the world.
Countries including Serbia, Bangladesh and Mexico have recently started vaccinating citizens through donations or trade agreements – an approach that could leave even fewer vaccines for the COVAX program, as rich countries have already recovered most of their supply this year.
Led by the World Health Organization, an epidemic preparedness coalition known as CEPI and a vaccine alliance called GAVI, COVAX was created to distribute COVID-19 vaccines correctly. Countries can join either to buy vaccines or to get donations.
Mustaqeem De Gama, a diplomat at the South African mission in Geneva, cited a “level of despair” fueled by the spread of the virus and “uncertainty about when any COVAX vaccine could arrive.” He doubted that the countries that signed up for COVAX “will receive even 10% of what they need”.
Even if the effort succeeds, COVAX’s stated goal is to vaccinate less than 30% of people in poor countries, which means that governments need to look for other sources to get enough fire to get the herd’s immunity.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said his country had been forced to reduce its own agreements after seeing rich countries fighting for rare shootings. He criticized nations that, he said, bought more doses than they needed.
“It’s like they’re going to vaccinate all their cats and dogs,” he said.
Although Serbia paid 4 million euros in COVAX last year, it has not received any fire yet and last month began its immunization campaign with vaccines from Pfizer, Sinopharm in China and Russia.
Recent production delays in Europe raise concerns about whether drug manufacturers will be able to meet increased orders.
“There are so many agreements signed that I think it’s hard to see how the numbers could be added to all the doses ordered to be actually produced in the foreseeable future,” said Amanda Glassman, a public health expert and executive vice president of the Center for Global Development.
Last week, the African Union reached an agreement for 400 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, to be produced by the Serum Institute of India. This is in addition to a previously negotiated agreement with the African Union for 270 million doses from several pharmaceutical companies and, in addition to the 600 million doses that Africa expects to receive from COVAX.
Some experts warn that these new offers could move COVAX further behind the line, especially if some countries are willing to pay a speed premium.
To ensure that South Africans receive quick doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, government officials have reluctantly agreed to pay a higher price per shot than Europe or North America. The first shipments arrived this week.
COVAX hopes to start shipping its first batches of vaccine to Africa by the end of this month, but these plans may change depending on producers ‘production capacities and countries’ immunization plans.
Mexico began vaccinating health workers in December over a direct purchase agreement with Pfizer. In recent weeks, the country has had to resort to the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which was expected to arrive next week, even though it has not been approved by Mexican regulators.
Kate Elder, senior policy adviser on vaccines for Doctors Without Borders, said developing countries should not be criticized for securing private vaccine deals, as the rich countries did last year.
“Each country is doing only what it feels it needs to do to protect its people,” she said, but the ability of poor countries and regions to vaccinate faster than COVAX could affect future UN efforts.
“If countries receive vaccines on their own, then how does WHO and GAVI provide them for them?” she asked.
Although India is contracted to supply COVAX with several hundred million doses of vaccine, the shootings have not yet been authorized by the WHO, which means India cannot release them for the UN program. Meanwhile, India has already endowed its neighbors, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, with more than 5 million doses.
Dr Haritha Aluthge of the Association of Government Physicians of Sri Lanka called on the WHO to intervene amid intense competition for vaccines and the failure of COVAX to deliver.
“No single dose was received (from COVAX),” Aluthge said.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently warned that the world is on the brink of “catastrophic moral failure” if COVID-19 vaccines are not distributed correctly, but the agency does not have the authority to force rich countries to divide.
His demands for countries to act in solidarity have largely been ignored.
Norway is the only country that has said it will send vaccines to developing countries because its citizens are immunized, but did not specify how many will be donated. Britain has said it will not divert any vaccines until it completes its own immunization program. Australia, which has largely eliminated COVID-19, does not have a timetable for when it could share vaccines with its poor neighbors in Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands.
The relentless pressure on vaccine stocks around the world could only increase when more photos prove successful, said Krishna Udayakumar, director of the Duke Global Health Institute.
“COVAX is the only global, multilateral platform that allows for something close to global access and equity, and yet it has access to a relatively small amount of vaccines,” he said. “The only way out is to have more vaccines.”
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Cheng reported from Toronto. Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Christopher Sherman in Mexico City, Marlon González in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, contributed to the report.