Taking a closer look at vaccine exports
Author: Joslin Coggan
Many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America have yet to receive the vaccines necessary to slow the spread of Covid-19 despite recent purchase and donation agreements. In recent weeks, large scale donations of Covid-19 vaccines have made headlines as the US and EU promised to send hundreds of millions of doses to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, many of these deals are yet to be realized as exports have not matched demand. Supply and production speed have limited vaccine exports in recent months. Manufacturing capacity is increasing rapidly, and additional challenges including logistics and country-level regulatory authorizations have been cited as barriers to distribution.
Prior to the G7 Summit in June, the majority of vaccine exports came from the EU, China, India, and Russia. We have identified comprehensive export data only for China and India. India was one of the leading vaccine manufacturers with the Serum Institute of India’s production of the AstraZeneca vaccine. India had exported more than 66 million doses globally through COVAX, independent purchase agreements, and donations by mid-April 2021, and many of the doses produced were going to LMICs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. After the devastating second wave of Covid-19 overwhelmed the Indian health system, India significantly curtailed vaccine exports, and the country will most likely not resume significant exporting of vaccines in 2021. The halt of Indian vaccine exports is a major concern for many LMICs who were counting on Novavax and the AstraZeneca doses through COVAX or bilateral agreements. TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT VACCINE EXPORTS
China and the EU have exported a similar number of vaccine doses at more than 350 million each, though the latest data we were able to identify for the EU was May 6, so the EU total has likely grown substantially since. To date, China has recorded more than 400 million delivered doses worldwide, primarily of the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines. China began ramping up vaccine exports in the early months of 2021vaccines (please see figure 2), the numbers being exported are still insufficient to fully vaccinate a high proportion of the population and many countries have only received partial fulfillment of their orders. Additionally, China has yet to contribute vaccines to COVAX, which many LMICs are relying upon to receive doses. Sinopharm and Sinovac have both received Emergency Use Listing (EUL) from the WHO, which makes them eligible for purchase by COVAX and Gavi.