AstraZeneca Furthers COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Through COVAX

AstraZeneca recently announced that the first doses of its COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX initiative have begun arriving in low and middle-income countries globally. 

The first shipments were brought to Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire, with more to begin arriving this week in countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, Fiji, Mongolia, and Moldova. This is the first COVID-19 vaccine supply for many of these countries. 

“These first steps towards fulfilling our broad, equitable and no-profit emergency response to the pandemic mean millions of people, irrespective of their country’s income level, will soon be protected against this deadly virus,” Pascal Soriot, chief executive offer at AstraZeneca said in the announcement.

“This is a moment of great pride for us at AstraZeneca and I am extremely grateful to our partners including Gavi, CEPI and Oxford University for their hard work and dedication in order to make this humanitarian ideal a reality for many millions of people around the world,” Soriot continued. 

More shipments will arrive in the next few weeks, with the goal of supplying 142 countries with millions of doses of the vaccine in the coming months. Most of these doses will go to low and middle-income countries, an AstraZeneca spokesperson stated.

Vaccine shipments have been allocated based on the COVAX Allocation Framework, which decides volume per participating country based on various factors, including country readiness, national regulatory authorizations, and whether national vaccination plans are in place. 

AstraZeneca was the first global pharmaceutical company to join COVAX in June 2020, which was in line with the company’s shared commitment to global and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, the company said.

The supply through COVAX follows the recent emergency use listing (EUL) by the World Health Organization (WHO) for active immunization in individuals 18 years of age and older. 

Under the EUL, two doses of the vaccine can be administered at a four to 12-week interval, as advised by the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE).

WHO based its approval on pooled analysis from the Phase 3 trials conducted by Oxford University. The trial included 12,390 participants aged 18 years and older from the UK, Brazil, and South Africa who were infected with COVID-19.

In the trials, the first dose of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca elicited efficiency of 76 percent. After the second dose, protection was maintained.

With an inter-dose interval of over 12 weeks, vaccine efficiency rose to 82 percent, AstraZeneca said. Notably, there were no severe cases and no hospitalizations more than 22 days after the first dose.

“When we launched the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment in June 2020, our first Agreement was with AstraZeneca. Nine months later, the first doses are already being delivered to those that need them most,” Seth Berkley, chief executive officer at Gavi, said in the recent announcement. 

“This is the beginning of COVAX’s effort to end the acute phase of the pandemic, not the end, but we can all take strength from this moment and I thank AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford for their support and partnership at every step of our journey,” Berkley continued.

Through the partnership with COVAX, a majority of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca will be manufactured by the company and its license partner, the Serum Institute of India (SII).

AstraZeneca partnered with SII, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, to supply the vaccine to the Indian Government as well as various low and middle-income countries. 

By the first week in January, COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca gained emergency use authorization in India, Argentina, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, and Morocco.

The approval in India is important not only to enable supply to India, but also to a large number of countries globally.

As of now, COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca is not FDA approved in the US. Experts believe that the vaccine may not gain approval due to its ineffectiveness against the new SARS-CoV-2 South African strain.

Scientists from the vaccine’s clinical trial said it didn’t protect participants from mild or moderate COVID-19, according to The New York Times.