I haven’t done much research on this, but from a naive perspective, spending 4 billion dollars to move up vaccine access by a few months sounds incredibly unlikely to be a good idea? Is the idea that it is more effective than standard global health interventions in terms of QALYs or a similar metric, or that there’s some other benefit that is incommensurable with other global health interventions? (This feels like asking the wrong question but maybe it will at least help me understand your perspective)
The idea is that the extra production capacity funded with that $4b doesn’t just move up access a few months for rich countries, it also means poor countries get enough doses in months not years, and that there is capacity for making boosters, etc. (It’s a one-time purchase to increase the speed of vaccines for the medium term future. In other words, it changes the derivative, not the level or the delivery date.)
”COVAX, the global program for purchasing and distributing COVID-19 vaccines, has struggled to secure enough vaccine doses since its inception..
Nearly 100 low-income nations are relying on the program for vaccines. COVAX was initially aiming to deliver 2 billion doses by the end of 2021, enough to vaccinate only the most high-risk groups in developing countries. However, its delivery forecast was wound back in September to only 1.425 billion doses by the end of the year.
And by the end of November, less than 576 million doses had actually been delivered.”
I haven’t done much research on this, but from a naive perspective, spending 4 billion dollars to move up vaccine access by a few months sounds incredibly unlikely to be a good idea? Is the idea that it is more effective than standard global health interventions in terms of QALYs or a similar metric, or that there’s some other benefit that is incommensurable with other global health interventions? (This feels like asking the wrong question but maybe it will at least help me understand your perspective)
The idea is that the extra production capacity funded with that $4b doesn’t just move up access a few months for rich countries, it also means poor countries get enough doses in months not years, and that there is capacity for making boosters, etc. (It’s a one-time purchase to increase the speed of vaccines for the medium term future. In other words, it changes the derivative, not the level or the delivery date.)
Is there currently a supply shortage of vaccines?
Yes, a huge one.
”COVAX, the global program for purchasing and distributing COVID-19 vaccines, has struggled to secure enough vaccine doses since its inception..
Nearly 100 low-income nations are relying on the program for vaccines. COVAX was initially aiming to deliver 2 billion doses by the end of 2021, enough to vaccinate only the most high-risk groups in developing countries. However, its delivery forecast was wound back in September to only 1.425 billion doses by the end of the year.
And by the end of November, less than 576 million doses had actually been delivered.”