Trade barriers ‘block global COVID-19 vaccine goals’

Efforts to scale up manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines and ensure fair access globally are being stymied by major bottlenecks which must be resolved urgently to tackle the pandemic, say vaccine industry players.

Almost 10 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines are needed to achieve worldwide herd immunity against the virus by March 2022, according to aWorld Bank Reporton how to end the pandemic.

Vaccine industry groups warn the target is only feasible if trade barriers and export restrictions on the global movement of vaccine components are removed immediately.

“我们在比赛中对变体。我们必须come up with a solution that doesn’t make things worse but gets us where we need to go in the fastest possible way.”

Michelle McMurry-Heath, president and CEO, Biotechnology Innovation Organization

Thomas Cueni, head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, said there were “realistic chances” of reaching the 10 billion doses target, but only if supply chain bottlenecks are resolved.

Otherwise, manufacturers face “a challenge in fulfilling our promises not only to people in our countries who are still waiting for vaccination, but particularly to people in developing countries,” he a told a media briefing on 23 April held virtually in Washington DC, Geneva and Hyderabad.

“We can’t afford to fail,” Cueni added.

Presently, the vaccine industry is plagued by a critical shortage of input materials in the supply chain, says Rajinder Suri, chief executive officer of the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN).

苏里说，源自《美国国防生产法》（DPA）的出口限制对世界各地的COVID-19疫苗推出有影响，阻碍了一次性材料的自由运动和可用性，例如塑料袋，细胞培养物，血清，血清，血清，，血清佐剂，过滤器和生物反应器。

“If any one or some of the components are missing, the entire supply chain comes to a grinding halt. And this is going to be the biggest bottleneck if not resolved,” warned Suri, calling for increased investment to ramp up manufacturing capacity, especially in developing countries.

“This [investment] is being supported by governments in various countries, including India and China and Brazil but it would require a sustained amount of funding and therefore a lot of efforts from global agencies will be required to make sure that the ramping up is smooth,” he added.

The US government said this week it will immediately provide raw materials for production of the vaccine in India as the country battles a devastating second wave of infections. At least 300,000 new cases have been reported every day for the last week, with nearly 18 million cases recorded overall.

生物技术创新组织的总裁兼首席执行官米歇尔·麦克默里·希思（Michelle McMurry-Heath）说，DPA旨在为国家安全至关重要的材料和服务，“在某个地方有误导，但在某个地方被误导了。”

她说：“我们需要将这些原材料淘汰，并且在全球存在的制造能力有限。”她提出了一种谨慎的方法来解决知识产权挑战，同时考虑到新兴的Covid-19变体的额外威胁。

“我们在比赛中对变体。我们必须提出一个不会使情况变得更糟的解决方案，但要让我们以最快的方式走到哪里。”她补充说。

The World Bank’s target of 10 billion vaccine doses to beat the pandemic is based on more than 275 manufacturing deals that have already been sealed, 214 of which include various forms of collaborations that rely on technology transfer.

Sai Prasad, president of the DCVMN, said that while technology transfer should be encouraged, innovators must first be matched with manufacturers.

“Vaccines are a very complex base and require complex science, and manufacturing a complicated process, so we need to be careful to whom we transfer the technology if they can receive it well,” he said.

警告是随着世界卫生组织（WHO）试图促进在低收入国家和中等收入国家建立技术转移枢纽以扩大COVID-19-19-19疫苗的制造。

WHO在其中说，将使用“枢纽和讲座模型”将生产疫苗生产疫苗的技术和技能转移到全球南方的制造商中所需的技术和技能。expression of interest。

“This initiative will initially prioritise the mRNA-vaccine technology but could expand to other technologies in the future,” it added.

Eliangiringa Kaale, a professor in medicine quality assurance and regulatory affairs at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania said the initiative was “both an opportunity and a challenge”.

“Looking at the African manufacturer landscape and more so [in particular countries], you will see that they are variable in terms of economic and technological stages,” he toldscidev.net。

尽管在南非或埃及等国家 /地区的公司可能很适合生产疫苗，但在撒哈拉以南非洲，“也许需要几年的时间才能达到成熟的MRNA技术水平，”他补充说。