The Serum Institute of India (SII) recently garnered attention when it received financial support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This contribution will enable SII to double its production of Covid-19 vaccines to 200 million doses, aimed at assisting India and other low-income countries as part of the Gavi COVAX initiative. The Pune-based SII is the world’s most prolific vaccine manufacturer and has entered agreements to create Covid-19 vaccines with American vaccine creator Novavax, as well as Oxford University and Swedish-British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. These vaccines will be priced at a maximum rate of USD 3 per dose.
Understanding COVAX
COVAX serves as one of the three pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, launched in April 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Commission, and France amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. The ACT Accelerator is a cooperative framework designed to expedite the creation, production, and fair distribution of Covid-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines. Its structure rests on three main pillars, namely Vaccines (COVAX), Therapeutics, and Diagnostics.
Goal of COVAX
The objective of COVAX is to ensure global access to Covid-19 vaccines once available. This initiative aims to dispense any benefits without consideration of wealth and plans to have 2 billion doses accessible by the end of 2021. This quantity should suffice to safeguard high-risk individuals, vulnerable populations, and frontline healthcare workers.
The Team Behind COVAX
Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the World Health Organisation (WHO) co-lead COVAX, working in collaboration with vaccine manufacturers from both economically advanced and developing countries. COVAX consistently assesses the Covid-19 vaccine landscape to select the most suitable vaccine candidates based on scientific value and scalability.
The Role of Gavi in COVAX
A crucial part of COVAX is the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC). This mechanism within the COVAX initiative ensures that 92 middle- and low-income countries, unable to fully finance Covid-19 vaccinations, can access vaccines simultaneously as more affluent self-financing countries. India, as a Gavi beneficiary, will receive a proportionate share of vaccines from the COVAX initiative.
About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Since its establishment in 2000, Gavi has worked as a global vaccine alliance, aligning public and private sectors with the mutual purpose of enabling equal access to new and underutilized vaccines for children in the world’s poorest countries. Its core partners encompass WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
CEPI is a global partnership launched in 2017 to develop vaccines to prevent future epidemics. Founded in Davos, Switzerland, by the governments of Norway and India, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and the World Economic Forum, CEPI continues to work towards its mission.
Gavi’s Vision: Leaving No One Behind
In June 2019, Gavi’s board approved a new five-year plan known as ‘Gavi 5.0,’ aimed at ensuring no one is overlooked with immunization. The mission under this scheme is to save lives and safeguard people’s health by promoting equitable and sustainable use of vaccines.
