Higher-income countries grab half of projected COVID-19 vaccine supply

[Resurgence]

As a second wave of coronavirus infections sweeps through Europe, and America continues to break daily records for new COVID-19 cases, the need for a vaccine is more urgent than ever. Pharmaceutical companies are racing to bring a viable drug to market. And this week came a bright ray of hope. On November 9th Pfizer and BioNTech, two drug firms, announced that their experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective in initial trials. But there is a long way to go before vaccines are available in sufficient quantities to immunize the entire world. Little wonder, then, that countries are scrambling to secure supplies of vaccine candidates, even before their safety and efficacy have been established.

Most of these deals, known as advance market commitments (AMCs), have been struck by rich countries. Data collected by researchers at Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Center show that high-income countries account for more than half of all such confirmed purchases. America alone is responsible for nearly one-sixth of these AMCs, having pre-ordered more than 1bn doses from half a dozen drugmakers. This amounts to three jabs per person. Canada has purchased ten doses for each of its citizens, the most for any country or alliance on a per person basis (see chart). A group of rich countries has already agreed to buy roughly 600m doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech drug, nearly half of the total the drugmakers say they can produce by the end of 2021.



https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail...ine-supply