From vaccines to vaccinations: 7th meeting of multilateral leaders task force on COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics

They agreed on the urgency to accelerate vaccinations in LICs, where under 5 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, as well as in LMICs, where around 30 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated

The heads of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization held high-level consultations with Gavi and UNICEF on 17 December, 2021 aimed at increasing the use of COVID-19 vaccines and other critical medical countermeasures in low-income (LIC) and lower middle-income (LMIC) countries and supporting countries to be better prepared, resourced, and ready to roll out vaccines.

They agreed on the urgency to accelerate vaccinations in LICs, where under 5 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, as well as in LMICs, where around 30 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated. They also agreed to work with countries to support and strengthen their national vaccination goals consistent with the global target to vaccinate 70 per cent of the populations in all countries by mid-2022. The emergence of the Omicron variant underscores the vital need for fair and broad access to vaccines as well as testing, sequencing, and treatments to end the pandemic.

Some LICs and LMICs are facing serious challenges in vaccine deployment. Constraints related to storage, cold chain capacity, and trained vaccinators are exacerbated in some cases by doses arriving with short shelf lives and without adequate lead time and shortages in ancillary supplies (such as syringes, safety boxes, and dilutants), with challenges to plan and finance vaccination campaigns in a timely manner. As in wealthier countries, vaccine hesitancy is also an issue in some LICs and LMICs.

To address such challenges, the consultation called on governments that have already achieved high coverage to:

• fulfill their donation pledges as quickly as possible to accelerate near-term deliveries to COVAX;
• release manufacturers from contracts and options and implement delivery swaps, so they can prioritize supply to COVAX, AVAT, and low-coverage countries.

They also urged the governments that have yet to achieve high vaccination coverage to:

• contract additional doses immediately through AVAT, COVAX, or bilaterally;
• establish in-country surge capacity to increase the rate of vaccine utilization as supplies increase; and
• coordinate between health and finance authorities for making increased use of multilateral development banks’ resources that are readily available for both vaccine purchase and deployment.