As part of the global entity's new "COVAX" plan, for which 172 nations have already signed on, whatever vaccine or vaccines end up becoming available for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) will cross national boundaries and be offered at the lowest price possible, ensuring the maximum number of people are able to get jabbed.
By 2021, more than two billion doses of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines will be ready for distribution, according to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Nations will have until Sept. 18 to confirm their participation in the program, and until Oct. 9 to make their initial payments.
"Vaccine nationalism only helps the virus," Ghebreyesus is quoted as saying. "The success of the COVAX facility hinges not only on countries signing up to it, but also filling key funding gaps."
International cooperation, Ghebreyesus contends, is the key to making it all work. Once Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines go global, "there is light at the end of the tunnel," he says, because "together we can do it."
More related news about the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) and the push for fast-tracked vaccines is available at Pandemic.news.
COVAX, which is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the WHO, aims to fast-track Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine production even faster than President Donald Trump's "Operation Warp Speed" plan to produce the jabs as quickly as possible for the American market.
Russia is thus far the first to procure what it claims is a workable Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, while the United States claims to be not far behind. It is almost like the space race to see which country can fill its vaccine syringes the fastest.
Alexander Gintsburg, Russia's top vaccine official, told the media that the more than 3,500 people who have received his nation's Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine are thus far showing no severe side effects. The vaccine has already been authorized by the government, despite not yet finishing its Phase 3 trial.
The WHO is also considering another nine vaccine candidates to be included as part of the COVAX program. The hope is to acquire and administer the jabs to those at highest risk around the globe, including health care workers and those on the "front lines" of the pandemic.
Whichever folks are "critical to saving lives and stabilizing the overall health system" are to be first in line for the jabs when they eventually become commercially available.
Several U.S. manufacturers of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines have already received their funding to start producing vaccines for COVAX, including Novavax, which obtained a $388 million grant from CEPI.
This grant is contingent upon grantees giving right of first refusal of vaccines directly to COVAX, which of course is backed by billionaire eugenicist Bill Gates. Novavax is currently working through its trial phases, having just started Phase 2.
"We expect this Phase 2 portion of the trial to expand on the encouraging Phase 1 safety and immunogenicity data for NVX-CoV2373, and we will now look for robust immune responses in older adults," stated Novavax R&D president Gregory Glenn.
The data collected from this Phase 2 trial will be used in assessing the efficacy and safety of the jab for older adults, which are said to be especially at risk of infection from the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). Following this, the vaccine will move on to Phase 3, which will reportedly include many more participants.
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