Korea joins efforts for fair access to COVID vaccines

Korea is one of the 14 members of the Friends of the COVAX Facility (FOF), which seeks to ensure affordable, fair and equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for all. / gettyimagesbank

By Kang Seung-woo

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Korea has made efforts toward ensuring a “fair and equitable” distribution of coronavirus vaccines to all countries around the world.

Korea, which has gained recognition for its successful handling of the coronavirus, is a member of the Friends of the COVAX Facility (FOF), which issued a statement, Monday, calling for affordable, fair and equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for all.

The COVAX Facility, pursued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and global vaccine alliance Gavi, is a global initiative that is aimed to bring together governments and manufacturers to ensure eventual COVID-19 vaccines reach those in greatest need. The FOF is a consultative “friends” group that aims to facilitate the launch of the COVAX Facility as a multilateral platform, and it comprises 14 countries ― Australia, Canada, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Norway, Qatar, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and Korea.

“We support the Facility's goal to deliver two billion doses of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines by 2021, and welcome the fact that it currently manages the world's largest and most diverse COVID-19 vaccine portfolio,” the statement read.

“The FOF is pleased to have participated collaboratively in the Facility's co-creation.”

The statement added: “Members of the FOF have expressed their intent to participate in the Facility and some have already submitted legally-binding Commitment Agreements. We will continue supporting Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to operationalize the Facility.”

President Moon Jae-in also emphasized the need for guaranteeing equitable access to vaccines and therapeutic treatments.

“Through global funding, we should facilitate the advance purchasing of sufficient doses of vaccine for international organizations to ensure that developing countries can also share in the benefits,” Moon said in a speech during the annual United Nations General Meeting, Monday.

Noting that the International Vaccine Institute is headquartered in Korea, Moon reaffirmed the country's commitment to actively support various activities to provide developing countries with vaccines.

Earlier, the government unveiled its plan to secure 60 million doses for 30 million people, or about 60 percent of the nation's total population, in the first step to build up national immunity against COVID-19. It is estimated that two doses of vaccine are required for an individual to acquire immunity.

“The country will seek to get vaccines for 10 million people from the COVAX Facility, while the rest will be secured through arrangements with private companies,” a foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity, Tuesday.

Korea submitted papers to join the Facility on Aug. 31 and it has set aside 172.3 billion won ($148 million) to join the organization.

According to the ministry official, there are no safe and effective vaccines thus far.

“Currently, four vaccine developers have launched Phase 3 trials, but nobody knows how many will make it through these,” the official said, adding the success rate for a vaccine development was about 7 percent.

When it comes to vaccine development in Korea, local manufacturers have fallen behind the four global developers, with experts predicting that a domestic vaccine will be available by 2022.

Meanwhile, according to Gavi, Monday, 64 higher income economies have joined the COVAX Facility, which will be joined by 92 low- and middle-income economies eligible for support for the procurement of vaccines through the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a financing instrument aimed at supporting the procurement of vaccines for these countries. This means that 156 economies, representing roughly 64 percent of the global population in total, are now either committed to or eligible for the COVAX Facility, with more likely to follow.