World leaders make historic commitments to provide equal access to vaccines for all

‘The Global Vaccine Summit, hosted by the UK, raises US$ 8.8 billion from 32 donor governments and 12 foundations, corporations and organisations to immunise 300 million children and support the global fight against COVID-19. US$ 567 million also raised for new innovative financing instrument to provide access to COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income countries. Boris Johnson: “Together we rise to fulfil the greatest shared endeavour of our lifetime – the triumph of humanity over disease, now and for the generations that follow.”

Read here (Gavi, June 4, 2020)

WHO Foundation established to support critical global health needs

‘The Foundation which is legally separate from WHO, will facilitate contributions from the general public, individual major donors and corporate partners to WHO and trusted partners to deliver on high-impact programmes. Its goal is to help broaden WHO’s donor base and work towards more sustainable and predictable funding.  The WHO Foundation will simplify the processing of philanthropic contributions in support of WHO and make such contributions possible on all aspects of health and WHO’s mission.’

Read here (WHO, May 27, 2020)

As the US and China clash, what can other countries do?

Keypoints: Neighbours and partners must work to rebuild cross-border trade and boost supply chains as a leadership gap widens during the coronavirus pandemic. Lessons can be drawn from the efforts of Asian countries, which signed their own FTAs as a backup plan to global trade when WTO negotiations stalled at the start of the 2000s.

Read here (South China Morning Post, May 21, 2020)

World Health Assembly: what is it, and what is the coronavirus inquiry proposal?

‘A key conference paper, already filed ahead of the assembly, and supported by 122 countries, including the members of the European Union and the African Group, the UK, Russia, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, calls for a systemic review of the world’s response to Covid-19. “Initiate, at the earliest appropriate moment, and in consultation with member states, a stepwise process of impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation ... to review experience gained and lessons learned from the WHO-coordinated international health response to Covid-19.”

‘The draft motion does not mention China or Wuhan (the city where the virus was first detected) by name. But it urges the global health community to: “... identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population, including the possible role of intermediate hosts, including through efforts such as scientific and collaborative field missions.”

And the paper argues the response to the pandemic must be global. The motion: “… calls for the universal, timely and equitable access to and fair distribution of all quality, safe, efficacious and affordable essential health technologies and products including their components and precursors required in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic as a global priority.”

Read here (The Guardian, May 18, 2020)

Download the 73rd WHA, Agenda Item 3, ‘Covid-19 response’ draft resolution here

UN humanitarian chief: After COVID-19, it’s in everyone’s interest to help the world's poorest countries

‘Our best estimate is that the cost of protecting the most vulnerable 10 per cent of people in the world’s poorest countries from the very worst impacts of the pandemic is approximately $90 billion. $90 billion is a lot of money. But it is an affordable sum of money. It is equivalent to just 1 per cent of the global stimulus package the world’s richest countries have put in place to save the global economy...

‘Some may be sceptical that additional resources of that magnitude can be generated in the current circumstances. That is not my experience. After the financial crisis of 2008 fundraising for UN-coordinated humanitarian appeals had increased by more than 40 per cent by 2010. That was a result of human generosity and empathy – but also a calculation of national interest in the donor countries.’

Read here (OCHA, May 4, 2020)

‘Advance market commitment for Covid-19 vaccine’ by Gavi, the vaccine alliance

‘If the world is to beat COVID-19, we will need to develop one or more vaccines to protect us from it. And with thousands of people dying each week, not to mention an estimated US$ 2 trillion per year in lost economic activity, the pressure to protect the population and return life to normal has never been greater.

‘The positive news is that the global response in terms of vaccine development has been historic. Today, over 80 preclinical candidates are in development and seven have already progressed to human trials. This could well give us a better chance of getting more than one COVID-19 vaccine introduced in record-breaking time. However it also shines a light on another critical challenge: how to ensure that once a vaccine is available, it is accessible to everyone that needs it. We can only stop the pandemic if it is under control everywhere.’

Read here (Gavi, May 4, 2020)

Read more about Gavi here

Whose coronavirus strategy worked best? Scientists hunt most effective policies

‘Working out the effectiveness of the unprecedented measures implemented worldwide to limit the spread of the coronavirus is now one of scientists’ most pressing questions... But untangling cause and effect is extremely challenging, in part because circumstances differ in each country and because there is uncertainty over how much people adhere to measures, cautions Rosalind Eggo, a mathematical modeller at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). “It’s really hard but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try,” she adds.

‘Efforts to tackle these questions will get a boost in the coming weeks from a database that brings together information on the hundreds of different interventions that have been introduced worldwide. The platform, being prepared for the World Health Organisation (WHO) by a team at the LSHTM, gathers data collected by ten groups already tracking interventions — including teams at the University of Oxford, UK, the Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH Vienna), and public-health organisations and non-profit organisations such as ACAPS, which analyses humanitarian crises.’

Read here (Nature, April 28, 2020)

US says will not take part in WHO global drugs, vaccine initiative launch

‘The United States will not take part in the launching of a global initiative on Friday to speed the development, production and distribution of drugs and vaccines against COVID-19, a spokesman for the U.S. mission in Geneva told Reuters.

“There will be no US official participation”, he said in an email reply to a query. “We look forward to learning more about this initiative in support of international cooperation to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 as soon as possible.”

Read here (Reuters, April 25, 2020)

Related:

• WHO initiates ACT (Access to Covid-19 Tools) Accelerator. Read here

WHO initiates ACT (Access to Covid-19 Tools) Accelerator

‘Our mission is not only accelerated development and availability of new COVID-19 tools – it is to accelerate equitable global access to safe, quality, effective, and affordable COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, and thus to ensure that in the fight against COVID-19, no one is left behind.’

Download here (WHO, April 24, 2020)

Covid-19 & China: A View from Asia -- George Yeo

‘In China, national interest comes before human rights. In the liberal west, there is continuous tension between the two which is the source of western creativity from the time of Greece and Rome. It is interesting to compare the national reaction to two whistleblowers - China’s Dr Li Wenliang who first sounded the alarm in Wuhan and Captain Brett Crozier who publicised the deteriorating situation onboard USS Theodore Roosevelt. Both men came down with the virus.

‘In Dr Li’s case, he has been officially vindicated after his death and the dossier is closed by central edict. In Captain Crozier’s case, the debate will never cease whatever the White House might say. China and the US are built on different foundations, each having the weakness of its strength. Global cooperation requires each to accept the other for what it is.’

Read here (Brunswick Group, April 16, 2020)

Is China winning? Economist special on China & Covid-19

‘China’s rulers combine vast ambitions with a caution born from the huge task they have in governing a country of 1.4bn people. They do not need to create a new rules-based international order from scratch. They might prefer to keep pushing on the wobbly pillars of the order built by America after the second world war, so that a rising China is not constrained.

‘That is not a comforting prospect. The best way to deal with the pandemic and its economic consequences is globally. So, too, problems like organised crime and climate change. The 1920s showed what happens when great powers turn selfish and rush to take advantage of the troubles of others. The covid-19 outbreak has so far sparked as much jostling for advantage as far-sighted magnanimity. Mr Trump bears a lot of blame for that. For China to reinforce such bleak visions of superpower behaviour would be not a triumph but a tragedy.’

Read here (The Economist, April 16, 2020)

Yuval Noah Harari: The world after coronavirus

‘Humankind is now facing a global crisis. Perhaps the biggest crisis of our generation. The decisions people and governments take in the next few weeks will probably shape the world for years to come. They will shape not just our healthcare systems but also our economy, politics and culture. We must act quickly and decisively. We should also take into account the long-term consequences of our actions. When choosing between alternatives, we should ask ourselves not only how to overcome the immediate threat, but also what kind of world we will inhabit once the storm passes. Yes, the storm will pass, humankind will survive, most of us will still be alive — but we will inhabit a different world...

‘In this time of crisis, we face two particularly important choices. The first is between totalitarian surveillance and citizen empowerment. The second is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity.’

Read here (Financial Times, Mar 20, 2020)