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The Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT Accelerator or ACT-A), or the Global Collaboration to Accelerate the Development, Production and Equitable Access to New COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, is a G20 initiative announced by pro-tem Chair Mohammed al-Jadaan on 24 April 2020. [1] A call to action was published simultaneously by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 24 April. [2] As of January 2022, it was the largest international effort to achieve equitable access to COVID-19 health technologies. [3]
The ACT Accelerator is a multinational collaboration, and multistakeholder initiative including the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), FIND, [4] GAVI the Vaccine Alliance, [5] the Global Fund, UNICEF, Unitaid, Wellcome, the World Bank and governments, to raise financial support of accelerated research and development, production, and globally-equitable access to COVID-19 tests, therapies, and vaccines. [6] [7] It is a framework for collaboration, not a new organization or a decision-making body. In March 2020, G20 leaders had called for a cross-discipline support structure to enable partners to share resources and knowledge and in April 2020 it was launched by WHO, European Commission, France and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. [8] On 24 April 2020 pro-tem Chair Mohammed al-Jadaan announced it, [1] simultaneously to the WHO. [2] Sir Andrew Witty and Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala accepted to act as Special Envoys to the ACT Accelerator from the WHO. [9]
The ACT Accelerator comprises four pillars, each managed by two to three collaborating partners:1) Vaccines (also called "COVAX" pillar), 2) Diagnostics, 3) Therapeutics and 4) Health Systems Connector. [10] Diagnostics are the most important medical technology available to monitor and control the spread of COVID-19, [10] [11] to avoid repeated lockdowns, which threaten economies and ways of life. [11] Testing supports healthcare services to be managed and COVID-19 transmission to be suppressed. [10] [11] The therapeutics pillar is a research effort to discover and develop promising COVID-19 drug development for COVID-19 infection and illness. It involves monitoring over 1,700 clinical trials, and was part of the effort to provide dexamethasone for up to 2.9 million patients in low-income countries and facilitates future access to monoclonal antibody therapies in low- and middle-income countries. [10] The pillar for health systems analyzes needs and resources in some 100 countries to identify problems, capacity, and requirements for access to and implementation of COVID-19 tools across world regions. [10] The COVAX pillar has the goal of facilitating licensure of several COVID-19 vaccines, influencing equitable pricing, and providing equal access for up to 2 billion doses by the end of 2021 to protect frontline healthcare workers and people with high-risk of COVID-19 infection, particularly in low-to-middle income countries. [12] [13]
In 2017, a multinational organization named Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, CEPI was formed. It is working with international health authorities and vaccine developers to create vaccines for preventing epidemics. [13]
Over 2020 throughout the pandemic, CEPI funded the development of nine COVID-19 vaccine candidates in a portfolio deliberately made diverse across different vaccine technologies to minimize the typically high risk of failure inherent in vaccine development. [14] [15] As of December 2020, CEPI supported the vaccine research organizations and programs of AstraZeneca/University of Oxford (AZD1222), Clover Biopharmaceuticals (SCB-2019), CureVac (Zorecimeran/CVnCoV), Inovio (INO-4800), Institut Pasteur (MV-SARS-CoV-2), Moderna (mRNA-1273), Novavax (NVX-CoV2373), SK bioscience (GBP510), and Hong Kong University. [14] [16] [17] CEPI is an observer of the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GLoPID-R) which was working closely with the WHO and member states to identify priorities for funding specific research needed for a COVID-19 vaccine, coordinating among the international funding and research organizations to maintain updated information on vaccine progress and avoid duplicate funding. [18]
The ACT-Accelerator was launched on 24 April 2020. [19] [20] The United Nations Foundation started the ACT Together Fund in order to raise money for the Accelerator. [21]
On 10 September 2020 the UN and the European Union co-hosted the inaugural meeting of the Facilitation Council of the ACT-Accelerator, which had received $2.7 billion of the $35 billion necessary to secure the 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses, 245 million treatments, and 500 million tests that the initiative deemed necessary to end the pandemic and speed economic global recovery. [22] In September 2020, ACT Accelerator partners committed to provide 120 million COVID-19 rapid tests for low- and middle-income countries. [10]
Although the Trump administration of the United States had withdrawn its financial support of the WHO and ACT Accelerator in 2020, [23] the United States reasserted its support of the WHO and COVAX on 21 January 2021 following the inauguration of President Joe Biden. [24]
By December 2020, more than 10 billion vaccine doses had been pre-ordered by developed countries. The manufacturers of three vaccines closest to global distribution – Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca – predicted a manufacturing capacity of 5.3 billion doses in 2021, which could be used to vaccinate about 3 billion people (as the vaccines require two doses for a protective effect against COVID-19). [25] Due to the high demand in preorders from rich countries for 2021, [26] [27] people in low-income developing countries may not receive vaccinations from these manufacturers until 2023 or 2024, increasing the use of the COVAX initiative to supply vaccines equitably. [25] [28] Emphasizing the need for broad distribution of safe, effective vaccines against COVID-19, especially across developing countries, GAVI uses the slogan, "No one is safe until everyone is safe." [29]
During 2020, major changes in the overall effort of developing COVID-19 vaccines were the increasing number of collaborations of the multinational pharmaceutical industry with national governments, and the diversity and growing number of biotechnology companies in many countries focusing on a COVID-19 vaccine. [30] According to CEPI, the general geographic distribution of COVID-19 vaccine development involves organizations in North America having about 40% of the world's COVID-19 vaccine research, compared with 30% in Asia and Australia, 26% in Europe, and a few projects in South America and Africa. [30]
In May 2020, the WHO had a telethon which raised US$8.8 billion in pledges from forty countries to support rapid development of vaccines. [31]
As of May 2020 CEPI organized a US$2 billion fund in a global partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organizations for accelerated research and clinical testing of nine COVID-19 vaccine candidates, with the 2020–21 goal of supporting several candidate vaccines for full development to licensing. [30] [14] [32] By early May 2020, the United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands had already donated US$915 million to CEPI. [31] [33] The Gates Foundation, a private charitable organization dedicated to vaccine research and distribution, was donating US$250 million in support of CEPI for research and public educational support on COVID-19 vaccines. [34] [35]
In December 2020, the Gates Foundation donated another US$250 million to the ACT Accelerator to "support the delivery of new COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines, particularly in low- and middle-income countries" during 2021, making the Foundation's total donation of US$1.75 billion toward the COVID-19 response. [36] [37]
As of December 2020, US$2.4 billion had been raised for the overall ACT Accelerator, with nine vaccine candidates being funded by COVAX and CEPI – the world's largest COVID-19 vaccine portfolio – with 189 countries committed to the eventual deployment plan. [14] [38] See table above. [39]
In May 2020, France announced a US$4.9 million investment in a COVID-19 vaccine research consortium via CEPI involving the Institut Pasteur, Themis Bioscience (Vienna, Austria), and the University of Pittsburgh, bringing CEPI's total investment in COVID-19 vaccine development to US$480 million by May. [40] [41] Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands have been major contributors to the CEPI effort for COVID-19 vaccine research in Europe. [33]
On 4 May 2020, the Canadian government committed CA$850 million to the WHO's live streaming effort to raise US$8 billion for COVID-19 vaccines and preparedness. [42] On 18 May 2020, China had pledged US$2 billion to support overall efforts by the WHO for programs against COVID-19. [43]
On 22 July 2020, China announced that it planned to provide a US$1 billion loan to make its vaccine accessible for countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. [44]
On 24 August 2020, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced it would provide five Southeast Asian countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam priority access to the vaccine once it was fully developed. [33]
COVAX is designed to assist vaccine purchases and distribution for poor and middle-income countries unable to compete in the open market and avoid inequities for vaccine access. [6] [7] However, by December 2020, more than 10 billion vaccine doses had been preordered mostly by high-income countries comprising only 14% of the world's population like the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. [45] [25] Poorer countries, such as South Africa, had difficulty obtaining vaccine deliveries, despite having a factory for making COVID-19 vaccines within the country. [28] Half of South African citizens live in poverty, and may receive a vaccine only by participating as volunteers in clinical trials. [28]
The COVAX administration, governments, and vaccine manufacturers have been criticized for lack of transparency and accountability over fair pricing and equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries where financial and vaccination resources are limited, and government corruption may exist. [27] [28]
In examining the founding principles of participation, transparency, and accountability, one study found lacking clarity on the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders, questions about potential conflicts of interest, unclear accountability with no ACT-A wide accountability framework and receding role of governments. [3]
An advance market commitment (AMC) is a promise to buy or subsidise a product if it is successfully developed. AMCs are typically offered by governments or private foundations to encourage the development of vaccines or treatments. In exchange, pharmaceutical companies commit to providing doses at a fixed price. This funding mechanism is used when the cost of research and development is too high to be worthwhile for the private sector without a guarantee of a certain quantity of purchases.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in Canada. Comprising 13 institutes, it is the successor to the Medical Research Council of Canada.
Seth Franklin Berkley is an American medical epidemiologist and a global advocate of the power of vaccines. He is the founder and former president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and former CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. He is currently a senior advisor to the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health.
GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization in poor countries. In 2016, Gavi channeled more than half of total donor assistance for health, and most donor assistance for immunization, by monetary measure.
Novavax, Inc. is an American biotechnology company based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, that develops vaccines to counter serious infectious diseases. Prior to 2020, company scientists developed experimental vaccines for influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), as well as Ebola and other emerging infectious diseases. During 2020, the company redirected its efforts to focus on development and approval of its NVX-CoV2373 vaccine for COVID-19.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is a foundation that takes donations from public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organisations, to finance independent research projects to develop vaccines against emerging infectious diseases (EID).
Richard Hatchett is an American oncologist and epidemiologist who has been serving as chief executive officer of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in Oslo and London since 2017. He was awarded the Secretary of Health and Human Services's Award for Distinguished Service.
A COVID‑19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19).
The COVID-19 pandemic in Panama was a part of the worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Panama on 9 March 2020. One of the dead was a 64-year-old male, who also had diabetes and pneumonia. Of those infected, 83 were hospitalized. The infected individuals belonged to the 29-59 age group and had each recently travelled abroad. A 13-year-old girl died of COVID-19 on 23 March 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Benin was a part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Benin in March 2020.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a leading organisation involved in the global coordination for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic within the broader United Nations response to the pandemic.
Operation Warp Speed (OWS) was a public–private partnership initiated by the United States government to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. The first news report of Operation Warp Speed was on April 29, 2020, and the program was officially announced on May 15, 2020. It was headed by Moncef Slaoui from May 2020 to January 2021 and by David A. Kessler from January to February 2021. At the end of February 2021, Operation Warp Speed was transferred into the responsibilities of the White House COVID-19 Response Team.
Vaccine development and production is economically complex and prone to market failure. Development is unprofitable in rich and poor countries, and is done with public funding. Production is concentrated in the hands of a small number of powerful companies which acquire key legal monopolies and make very large profits.
Science diplomacy is the collaborative efforts by local and global entities to solve global issues using science and technology as a base. In science diplomacy, collaboration takes place to advance science but science can also be used to facilitate diplomatic relations. This allows even conflicting nations to come together through science to find solutions to global issues. Global organizations, researchers, public health officials, countries, government officials, and clinicians have previously worked together to create effective measures of infection control and subsequent treatment. They continue to do so through sharing of resources, research data, ideas, and by putting into effect laws and regulations that can further advance scientific research. Without the collaborative efforts of such entities, the world would not have the vaccines and treatments we now possess for diseases that were once considered deadly such as tuberculosis, tetanus, polio, influenza, etc. Historically, science diplomacy has proved successful in diseases such as SARS, Ebola, Zika and continues to be relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic today.
Vaccine diplomacy, a form of medical diplomacy, is the use of vaccines to improve a country's diplomatic relationship and influence of other countries. Meanwhile, vaccine diplomacy also "means a set of diplomatic measures taken to ensure access to the best practices in the development of potential vaccines, to enhance bilateral and/or multilateral cooperation between countries in conducting joint R&D, and, in the case of the announcement of production, to ensure the signing of a contract for the purchase of the vaccine at the shortest term." Although primary discussed in the context of the supply of COVID-19 vaccines, it also played a part in the distribution of the smallpox vaccine.
COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by the GAVI vaccine alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the World Health Organization (WHO), alongside key delivery partner UNICEF. It is one of the four pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, an initiative begun in April 2020 by the WHO, the European Commission, and the government of France as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVAX coordinates international resources to enable low-to-middle-income countries equitable access to COVID-19 tests, therapies, and vaccines. UNICEF is the key delivery partner, leveraging its experience as the largest single vaccine buyer in the world and working on the procurement of COVID-19 vaccine doses, as well as logistics, country readiness and in-country delivery.
As of 12 August 2024, 13.53 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, with 70.6 percent of the global population having received at least one dose. While 4.19 million vaccines were then being administered daily, only 22.3 percent of people in low-income countries had received at least a first vaccine by September 2022, according to official reports from national health agencies, which are collated by Our World in Data.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was isolated in late 2019. Its genetic sequence was published on 11 January 2020, triggering an urgent international response to prepare for an outbreak and hasten the development of a preventive COVID-19 vaccine. Since 2020, vaccine development has been expedited via unprecedented collaboration in the multinational pharmaceutical industry and between governments. By June 2020, tens of billions of dollars were invested by corporations, governments, international health organizations, and university research groups to develop dozens of vaccine candidates and prepare for global vaccination programs to immunize against COVID‑19 infection. According to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the geographic distribution of COVID‑19 vaccine development shows North American entities to have about 40% of the activity, compared to 30% in Asia and Australia, 26% in Europe, and a few projects in South America and Africa.
SCB-2019 is a protein subunit COVID-19 vaccine developed by Clover Biopharmaceuticals using an adjuvant from Dynavax technologies. Positive results of Phase I trials for the vaccine were published in The Lancet and the vaccine completed enrollment of 29,000 participants in Phase II/III trials in July 2021. In September 2021, SCB-2019 announced Phase III results showing 67% efficacy against all cases of COVID-19 and 79% efficacy against all cases of the Delta variant. Additionally, the vaccine was 84% effective against moderate cases and 100% effective against hospitalization.
Vaccine equity means ensuring that everyone in the world has equal access to vaccines. The importance of vaccine equity has been emphasized by researchers and public health experts during the COVID-19 pandemic but is relevant to other illnesses and vaccines as well. Historically, world-wide immunization campaigns have led to the eradication of smallpox and significantly reduced polio, measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus.
GloPID-R Members and other major players involved in infectious disease outbreaks worldwide reacted rapidly to this emerging epidemic, working closely with WHO to identify the specific funding research priorities needed to tackle the disease.
CEPI estimates that developing up to three vaccines in the next 12–18 months will require an investment of at least US$2 billion. This estimate includes Phase 1 clinical trials of eight vaccine candidates, progression of up to six candidates through Phase 2 and 3 trials, completion of regulatory and quality requirements for at least three vaccines, and enhancing global manufacturing capacity for three vaccines.