European Regulator Approves Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine

The European Union regulator has approved last Thursday, March 11, the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, by Johnson & Johnson. The vaccine in question is a single dose shot and joins those from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

“With this latest positive opinion, authorities across the European Union will have another option to combat the pandemic and protect the lives and health of their citizens,” said Emer Cooke, EMA’s Executive Director. According to the final clinical trials, one dose is 85% effective against the most severe manifestations of the disease.

COVAX Facility vaccine rollout

Back in February, Ghana became the first country outside India to receive 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 via the COVAX Facility.

COVAX is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), working in partnership with UNICEF as well as the World Bank, civil society organizations, manufacturers, and others.

The World Health Organization (WHO) broke the good news on Wednesday, 24.“This is a historic step towards our goal to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally, in what will be the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history.”

The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine's first shipment was licensed to the Serum Institute of India and sent to Accra, Ghana. Afterward, on Friday 26, the Ivory Coast became the second country to receive a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines. 504,000 doses arrived in Abidjan.

UN Secretary-General speaks out

On Wednesday, February 17, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, during a high-level meeting of the UN security council, shared harsh criticism regarding the global vaccination plan, stating how 130 countries had not yet received a single dose of vaccine.

COVID-19 has killed more than a hundred thousand people in Africa. However, “10 countries have administered more than 75% of all COVID-19 vaccines. Meanwhile, more than 130 countries have not received a single dose,” wrote António Guterres in his article.

The UN Secretary-General also addressed the consequences for world health and economy if we allow the virus to spread freely in developing countries that do not have access to the vaccine. He reinforced how the world urgently needs a global vaccination plan that brings together all those with the necessary power, scientific knowledge, and financial capacities.

“So, the risk is if we vaccinate only the developed countries, and we let the virus spread in the developing world, the virus will mutate, which I think will be more dangerous, but also more able to resist vaccines.”

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore also emphasized the importance of “Equitable access to vaccines for all people, including those living under conflict. Not only as a matter of justice. But as the only pathway to ending this pandemic for all. And to sowing the seeds of care, hope, and even peace in countries that have seen far too little.”

New variants can become more transmissible; therefore, any hope of winning the battle against the virus lies in humanity’s ability to rise as one people. We have to control the spread of the disease worldwide. Left by themselves, developing countries can be overwhelmed by the disease, and new emerging strains would spread like wildfire.

We can’t predict the effectiveness of current vaccines against future variants of coronavirus. But we can vaccinate as many people as we possibly can in the shortest period of time.

To bring this pandemic to an end, a large share of the world needs to be immune to the virus. The safest way to achieve this is with a vaccine. Vaccines are a technology that humanity has often relied on to bring down the death toll of infectious diseases.

Within less than 12 months after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, several research teams rose to the challenge and developed vaccines that protect from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Now the challenge is to make these vaccines available to people around the world.

Final Thoughts

I stand with UN Chief António Guterres when he says that a large share of the world needs to be immune to the virus if we want to bring this pandemic to an end. Experts emphasize how the safest way to achieve this is with a vaccine.

The World Health Organization (WHO), on March 11, 2020, declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. During the last 12 months, experts worldwide managed to develop vaccines that help us push-back the spread of infection. Now the world requires a different type of expertise, as we have to make these vaccines equitably available to all.

Looking at the map, we understand how only a small percentage of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in developing countries struck by humanitarian crises.

Fortunately, the global rollout has started and is going as planned; as readiness criteria are met and doses produced, vaccines will be shipped to Facility participants on a rolling basis.

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-Rui