Gavi Signs Agreement for Sinopharm, Sinovac COVID-19 Vaccine Doses
The COVID-19 vaccine doses will be made available from July to December 2021 to help address immediate and critical gaps in supply.
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By - Gavi recently signed an advance purchased agreement with Sinopharm and Sinovac for their respective COVID-19 vaccines.
The purchase agreements for Sinopharm’s “BBIBP-CorV” and Sinovac’s “CoronaVac” will begin to make 110 million doses immediately available for participants of the COVAX Facility, addressing critical gaps in vaccine supply.
“I welcome today’s agreements with Sinopharm and Sinovac, which will make doses immediately available to COVAX participants,” Seth Berkley, MD, CEO of Gavi, said in the announcement.
“This is yet another example of Gavi’s active portfolio management strategy, ensuring the Facility has options in the face of constraints such as supply delays. Thanks to this deal, and because these vaccines have already received WHO Emergency Use Listing, we can move to start supplying doses to countries immediately,” Berkley continued.
Both the Sinopharm and Sinovac APA’s enable Q3 supply.
Gavi committed to purchasing 60 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, which will be made available from July through October 2021. Gavi also has the option to purchase a further 60 million doses in Q4 2021 and 50 million more doses in the first half of 2022, if needed.
In total, about 170 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine could be made available to self-financing participants of the facility, as well as participants supported by the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC).
Additionally, nearly 50 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine will be made available from July through September 2021. Gavi also has the option to purchase a further 150 million doses in Q4 2021 and 180 million more doses in the first half of 2022.
About 380 million potential doses of the Sinovac vaccine could be available to self-financing participants of the facility, as well as participants supported by the Gavi COVAX AMC.
Currently, the COVAX Facility portfolio consists of agreements related to 11 vaccines and vaccine candidates, including AstraZeneca/Oxford, Clover, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer-BioNTech, Sanofi/GSK, SII-Covishield, SII-Covovax, Sinopharm, and Sinovac.
The agreements provide participants access to a wide range of vaccines intended for various settings and reduce the risk of research & development, regulatory delays, and supply constraints, a Gavi spokesperson explained.
At the end of June, COVAX published its latest supply forecast.
The organization stated that the vaccine pillar of the ACT-Accelerator will have 1.9 billion doses available for supply by the end of 2021. To date, the organization has signed deals in place for nearly 2.8 billion doses in 2021 and 2022, with a further 1.3 billion secured if needed.
