Foreword
We should have recognised the warning signs that humanity’s international response to Covid-19 could get bogged down in geopolitical crosscurrents. In early March 2020, a senior Chinese leader proclaimed in a published report that Covid-19 could be turned into an opportunity to increase dependency on China and the Chinese economy. The following month, due in part to the World Health Organisation’s refusal to include Taiwan in its decision-making body, the Trump administration suspended funding to the agency. In May 2020, President Trump announced plans to formally withdraw from it. Quite naturally, many public-health experts and policymakers were discouraged by the growing possibility that global politics could overshadow efforts to unite the world in the effort to fight the disease.
However, this report from the Global Health Security Consortium offers hope. It recommends a strategic approach to “vaccine diplomacy” that can help the world bring the pandemic under control. The rapid development of effective vaccines has been a historic accomplishment – a marvel of medicine and a validation of applied private enterprise. This report sets out an approach for policymakers that would be worthy of that achievement.
Vaccinating the World in 2021 suggests we’re at a crossroads moment – a moment when real choices are to be made. Through innovative modelling, the report suggests what lies ahead if the current path of vaccine production and distribution continues unmodified. It’s a discouraging future – especially in light of the growing number of worrisome variants and the likely need for booster shots later this year. That same modelling, however, suggests what our future could look like if the report’s “four solutions” are pursued as rapidly as possible. It calls on world leaders to work together to, among other things, “strategically vaccinate key populations” and “coordinate distribution of vaccines to strategic populations”.
In short, Vaccinating the World in 2021 lays out the choices facing public-health experts and political leaders. It shows how we can effectively mobilise to respond to a challenge that has cost more than 3 million lives globally to date and darkened so many others. It states what should not need to be said: that effective production and strategically optimised distribution of vaccines is in our self-interest. And enlightened self-interest can save the world.
Executive Summary
The only way to protect the whole world from a mutating virus that is still growing exponentially is to achieve vaccination at scale. Until that point there remains a significant risk of new mutant strains emerging that are more transmissible and potentially resistant to vaccines. Put simply, none of us is safe until all of us are safe.
We propose four solutions to address four interrelated barriers to vaccinating the world as quickly as possible.
Strategically vaccinate key populations to minimise mortality, maintain essential services and minimise viral transmission. No matter how quickly we manufacture and administer vaccines, we will not vaccinate the entire world this year. Therefore, we need to take a strategic approach to vaccinating key populations that will achieve these three goals. In particular, focusing on densely populated and urban areas, while maintaining a focus on equity across socioeconomic and other demographic factors, can help reduce the likelihood of excess mortality and viral mutation.
Maximise the supply of vaccines available in 2021 and beyond. Given the global shortfall in vaccines against Covid-19, and the likely need for booster doses, it is important to maximise our total supply. There are different tactics to do so across different time horizons. In the near term, it is important for the US, the UK and other countries with financial means to continue to incentivise production of vaccines, even after the majority of their populations have been vaccinated and they have built strategic stockpiles of vaccines. In the medium term, repurposing of manufacturing plants is needed to increase global manufacturing capacity, but these efforts must not put supply of other essential vaccines and medical products at risk. In the long term, a global and strategic network of manufacturing capacity that can address outbreaks is critical.
Ensure vaccine supply reaches people. In parallel to increasing global supply of vaccines, it is critical to ensure that these vaccines will actually reach populations that need them. Countries need to increase absorption capacity by implementing a four-part framework covering settings, staff, systematic data capture and strategic communications. In parallel, it is important to reduce vaccine hesitancy and increase vaccine confidence among key populations so there is sufficient demand for vaccines when they are available. Costed distribution plans are needed urgently and require adequate funding alongside the cost of procuring vaccines for the world.
Coordinate distribution of vaccines to strategically identified key populations. This requires political clout and monitoring capacity on a global scale. It is a function that should be delivered through existing bodies but guided by an advisory group to COVAX, initiated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) with support from the G7 and the G20. It would cover supply from COVAX and any surplus supply or doses generated by repurposed manufacturing, strategically deploying supply to countries with sufficient absorption capacity. It would direct national efforts for future pandemics to ensure supplies go where they are most needed.