E-DRUG: New website provides overview and review of initiatives for access to medical products against Covid-19
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[Highly recommended, Wilbert]
Dear E-druggers,
The Dutch NGO Wemos has launched
a website that provides an up-to-date overview of international initiatives by public institutions to enhance access to medical products against Covid-19, such as vaccines, medicines and diagnostics. It presents their characteristics and reviews their potential to contribute to an equitable and effective response to the current and future pandemics, as well as the support they need to become successful. Among the assessed initiatives are COVAX, the TRIPS Waiver and the South African mRNA hub.
Equal access to Covid-19 innovations
To effectively combat the current and future pandemics, everyone in the world needs access to medical innovations. However, access is still highly unequal. High-income countries can vaccinate their population multiple times, while lower-income countries experience dire vaccine shortages. This disparity is unacceptable as it leads to avoidable deaths, hardship and economic damage. Wemos therefore advocates a system of medical innovation that primarily serves the global public interest instead of solely commercial or national interests, especially when public funding of the research and development is involved.
Several public institutions, such as the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the European Commission, have started or proposed a wide variety of international initiatives to improve global access to key medical innovations.
On https://covid19response.org/, Wemos outlines these initiatives and assesses their potential to contribute to an equitable and effective Covid-19 response. These assessments are based on five main principles: 1) sufficiency, 2) urgency, 3) sustainability, 4) power balance, and 5) public first.
Increasing self-sufficiency
According to Wemos, achieving an equitable and effective Covid-19 response requires initiatives that increase the range of producers of Covid-19 innovations worldwide and contribute to self-sufficiency of low- and middle-income countries. This breaks dependencies on high-income countries and a few leading pharmaceutical companies, stimulates solutions for local context, and brings prices down. Investing in expanding local production capacity in low- and middle-income countries also improves resilience to future public health emergencies of local and international concern.
Wemos therefore calls upon policy makers around the world to support initiatives such as the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) that facilitate the sharing of know-how and technology needed for production. Also the TRIPS Waiver proposal by India and South Africa requires full support, as it would allow qualified pharmaceutical companies other than the right holders to produce Covid-19 innovations. The South African mRNA hub is currently making great strides in developing its own mRNA vaccine. As it seeks to produce and distribute vaccines locally and provide capacity building to others, the mRNA hub model presents a structural solution to current inequities in access with lasting effects beyond this pandemic.
Initiatives aiming to increase the funding for pandemic preparedness and response, including local manufacturing capacity, such as the G20's Global Health Threats Fund and Multilateral Leaders Task Force on Covid-19, should champion democratic governance and attach conditions to their funding to ensure the sharing of know-how and technology needed for production and to foster fair pricing. Unfortunately, as the overview on https://covid19response.org/ shows, this is not yet a given.
For short-term relief, donating vaccines to low- and middle-income countries through COVAX should be intensified. Though, this cannot be considered a long-term solution as it perpetuates the dependence of low- and middle-income countries on high-income countries.
For the complete overview of initiatives and their reviews, please visit
For more information about the context of the website and the methodology used for reviewing the initiatives, please visit
https://covid19response.org/about/
The information on the website will be updated regularly, and more initiatives will be added in the (near) future.
Webinar
On Wednesday 2 March 2022, 3 PM CET, Wemos organises a webinar to present the new website and clarify the reviews of the initiatives. We will provide an invitation and registration link soon, but please save the date in advance.
About Wemos
Wemos is an international civil society organisation advocating equal access to health for everyone in the world. Together with our partners, we propose and support solutions for the root causes of limited access to health services and protection against health threats. Currently, we focus on achieving access to medicines and vaccines for all, availability of sufficient health personnel with proper working conditions, and adequate funding to enable quality healthcare. Since we were founded 40 years ago by a group of Dutch medical students, we have acquired an international reputation for our rights-based and systemic approach to health. More information: http://www.wemos.nl/en
If you like the website, please help share the news on our website, for example by tweeting:
- Visit covid19response.org for an overview & review of international initiatives for access to medical products against #Covid19. By @Wemos. To what extent can these initiatives contribute to an equitable & effective Covid-19 response? What support do they need? Find out!
- On https://covid19response.org/, @Wemos outlines international initiatives to improve global access to key medical innovations to combat Covid-19 and assesses their potential to contribute to an equitable and effective Covid-19 response. These assessments are based on five main principles: 1) sufficiency, 2) urgency, 3) sustainability, 4) power balance, and 5) public first.
Or re-tweet @Wemos:
https://twitter.com/Wemos/status/1491331917853065216?cxt=HHwWgICs3cqeo7IpAAAA
With kind regards,
Ella Weggen
Senior Global Health Advocate
Tel nr office: +31 (0)20 4 352 050
Mob: +31 (0)6 412 93 088
Visit: http://www.wemos.nl/
Follow us: http://www.twitter.com/wemos
http://www.linkedin.com/company/wemos
http://www.facebook.com/wemosnl