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India ready
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the end of November visited three pharmaceutical facilities in the country to review the development and manufacturing process of COVID-19 vaccines.
The Serum Institute in Pune is developing a vaccine that will trigger immunity against COVID-19 in partnership with Oxford’s AstraZeneca.
Ahmedabad’s Zydus Cadila Park is developing a vaccine by Zydus Cadila while the Bharat BioTech headquarters is developing a vaccine named Covaxin.
When it is ready, the COVID-19 vaccine will be distributed initially in India, before being given to developing countries, including Uganda, in an arrangement code named COVAX that is being driven by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and vaccine alliance fund, GAVI.
Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India told the press after Modi’s visit that “the vaccine will be distributed initially in India, then we will look at the COVAX countries which are mainly in Africa. The UK and European markets are being taken care of by AstraZeneca and Oxford. Our priority is India and COVAX countries.”
Uganda on list of 92 countries to benefit from COVAX AMC
In July the GAVI Board agreed on the 92 economies that will be supported the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC).
- Low income: Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen.
- Lower-middle income: Angola, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bolivia, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyztan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Mauritania, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, West Bank and Gaza, Zambia and Zimbabwe
- Additional IDA eligible: Dominica, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Kosovo, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Samoa, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tonga and Tuvalu.
The COVAX Advance Market Commitment
COVAX is one of three pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, launched in April by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Commission and France in response to this pandemic.(click to watch video)
The 92 low and middle-income countries and economies approved by the GAVI Board will be able to access vaccines through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), which will also cover at least part of the cost.
The COVAX AMC forms part of the COVAX Facility, a mechanism hosted by GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, designed to guarantee rapid, fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for every country in the world.
No one is safe until everyone is safe. #COVID19 @washingtonpost pic.twitter.com/myjnuVWTRi
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 29, 2020
GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. (see WHO deployment plan at bottom)
India’s Federal Health Minister Harsh Vardhan assured the world that the vaccine would likely be available in India by end of January, then to COVAX countries soon after.
India is in the grip of the ongoing pandemic and globally is the second worst-hit country by COVID-19.
Meanwhile, President Yoweri Museveni in October also revealed that Uganda is close to developing COVID-19 treatments, with trials of the medicine set to start.
“Our scientists have given me the good news that they have developed seven wonderful products, six of which are under trial, and one, an immune booster is already being used,” Museveni said.
In an address on COVID-19 and security from the Eastern city of Mbale, the President said the first three products are all anti-virals — killing the virus and limiting the damage of the virus to the body.
“They have told me starting December 15, 2020, patients under strict medical supervision will have this medicine tried on them,” he said.
The scientists have promised that 40 days after this they will be able to prove that the drug works against COVID-19 and other viruses.
VIDEO: Uganda also in vaccine pursuit
He said the fourth exciting product is a bronchial dilator- a drug that will keep a patient’s lung airways open without the need to use the ventilators that cause damage to other body parts where they are inserted.
“Our scientists have also developed two diagnostic tests- one which uses saliva and can give results in 30 minutes. There is always opportunity in adversity,” he stated.
HOW COVAX WORKS
WHO vaccine deployment plan
WHO 2019 NCoV Vaccine Deployment 2020 by jadwongscribd on Scribd
