Governments must attach strings as they pledge billions to pay for vaccines in developing countries

Geneva, 2 June 2020—Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) urged leaders to demand pharmaceutical corporations commit to selling any potential future COVID-19 vaccines at cost, as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, prepares to launch a global mechanism to negotiate with corporations on such vaccines, and appeals to governments to set up a fund to purchase them for developing countries.

“Governments and Gavi need to demand that pharmaceutical corporations open the books so we can see how much potential COVID-19 vaccines will actually cost to produce,” said Kate Elder, Senior Vaccines Policy Advisor for MSF’s Access Campaign.

The COVID-19 vaccines fund that is being mapped out by Gavi aims to raise billions to pay for increased production capacity for future vaccines, and to secure a price, but there is no guarantee whatsoever that pharmaceutical corporations will charge affordable prices.

A fund that was designed by Gavi, the Gates Foundation, the World Bank and others in 2009 to pay for pneumonia vaccines suffered from pharmaceutical companies demanding a relatively high price for the vaccine, leaving developing country governments who have had to take over paying for the vaccine long term with unaffordable prices.

Read more about MSF’s analysis of the global mechanism for potential future COVID-19 vaccines, including MSF’s past experience with Gavi’s pneumonia vaccine Advance Market Commitment.