By Jared S. Hopkins
The European Union, Canada and other developed countries have
signed deals to get hundreds of millions of doses of Covid-19
vaccines and boosters over the next two years, furthering a divide
between rich and poor countries.
Under the recent deals, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE agreed to
supply the European Union up to 1.8 billion doses of their vaccine
through 2023, while agreeing to supply Canada up to 125 million
doses.
Australia, Switzerland and Israel, meanwhile, are set to get
Moderna Inc.'s shot through next year, and Switzerland has options
for doses in 2023.
The agreements will ensure the countries, including some that
failed to lock up sufficient supplies of the mRNA vaccines earlier
this year, have enough supplies to inoculate residents and protect
them against potentially elusive variants, while providing a sales
windfall to the manufacturers.
Yet the deals once again leave out developing countries, many of
which have fallen behind in vaccinating residents and struggled to
contain the spread of the virus.
Moderna sees Covax, the global-health initiative intended to get
doses to low-income countries, as its primary means to supply
lower- and middle-income countries, a spokesman said. The company
said last month it would deliver 34 million doses in the fourth
quarter of 2021 to Covax, which has an option to purchase another
466 million doses next year.
Pfizer has pledged to provide 2 billion doses to low- and
middle-income countries over the next 18 months, a company
spokeswoman said. It also has agreed to provide 40 million doses to
Covax this year for distribution, which have begun to reach more
than a dozen countries, she said. Pfizer's commitment to ensure
access to the vaccine "has never wavered," and it is talking with
countries and stakeholders about improving access, she added.
About 6 billion doses have been purchased by more than two dozen
rich nations and the European Union, according to the latest
figures from the Duke University's Global Health Innovation Center,
which tracks vaccine purchases. By comparison, the rest of the
world has combined to purchase more than 3 billion doses.
Neither the countries nor the companies disclosed the terms of
the recent deals.
Covid-19 vaccine sales are forecast to total $70 billion through
next year for Pfizer and more than $27 billion for Moderna,
according to Bernstein Research.
Bernstein estimates Pfizer and BioNTech charge between $18 and
$19.50 a dose in developed markets, compared with $7.50 in
developing markets. Moderna charges between $17 and $20 a dose,
compared with $8 in developing markets, according to Bernstein.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine's sales would make it among the
top-selling pharmaceuticals of all time. AbbVie Inc.'s
anti-inflammatory drug Humira has been the recent top seller,
notching nearly $20 billion in 2018 sales.
The U.S. hasn't signed new supply deals, but its agreements with
Pfizer and Moderna provide the option for future purchases. In the
U.S., each company is slated to deliver 300 million doses by the
end of July.
The EU deal would help the bloc resolve the vaccine procurement
problems that hurt its vaccination efforts earlier this year.
EU residents and public-health experts criticized the bloc as
ordering vaccines too slowly, partly because they didn't want to
pay as much as Pfizer and Moderna sought, and favoring older
vaccine technologies over new ones.
Limited supplies of the mRNA vaccines hit especially hard after
some countries restricted use of shots from AstraZeneca PLC and
Johnson & Johnson over safety concerns.
The recent deals suggest the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer and
Moderna have become the vaccines of choice in developed nations.
They also mean most of the developed world should have enough
Covid-19 vaccine supplies for the next couple of years to protect
all their residents.
The new EU deal builds on 600 million doses Pfizer agreed to
deliver this year. Under the deal, Pfizer agreed to send an initial
900 million doses starting in December, and the EU has the option
to buy another 900 million doses.
The new supply will be enough for the bloc's 450 million
citizens to get four Pfizer-BioNTech doses, according to
Bernstein.
Australia, which has about 25 million residents and recently
stopped administering AstraZeneca's shot to people under age 50,
said last month that Moderna would provide 10 million doses this
year and 15 million booster shot doses next year. Earlier, the
country had placed orders for 40 million doses for delivery this
year.
Pfizer has said it expects to produce 3 billion doses this year,
and at least 4 billion next year. Moderna said it is targeting
manufacturing up to 3 billion doses next year.
Some developing nations have reached deals with mRNA vaccine
makers for doses, though supplies probably aren't enough to
vaccinate all their populations.
Paraguay, which counts more than 7 million residents, said last
month it signed a supply deal for 1 million doses of the
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Botswana said in April that Moderna is
providing the African country, which has more than two million
people, 500,000 doses of its shot.
Of the approximate 50 supply deals that Pfizer and BioNTech have
with countries and groups like Covax, about half are with low- and
middle-income countries, according to Duke's Global Health
Innovation Center.
Pfizer has said it would discount its vaccine to middle-income
countries, while providing it at cost to poorer countries.
Six of the 19 Moderna deals are for low- and middle-income
countries, according to the Duke center. Moderna has said it would
price its vaccine in low-income countries at its lowest-tier
price.
Many developing nations are still negotiating with Pfizer and
Moderna, according to the companies. They also are waiting on doses
from Covax and appealing to the U.S. government to provide excess
doses.
Covax has been beset by manufacturing and delivery delays.
To access more doses, some developing countries have asked the
World Trade Organization to waive patent protection for Covid-19
vaccines. The U.S. said it supports the move, though Germany and
some other developed countries have opposed it. The drug industry
is lobbying against the proposal, saying waiving patent protection
wouldn't provide relief any time soon while straining raw material
supplies.
Public-health and vaccine experts say developing countries need
more supplies to vaccinate residents to contain the spread of the
virus and protect against dangerous new variants that emerge.
Developed countries won't be able to fully reopen, the
specialists added, unless developing nations are able to immunize a
sufficient number of residents.
With developed countries securing more doses for the next few
years, low- and middle-income countries will probably find
themselves dependent on rich countries to share or reallocate
doses, said Prashant Yadav, a senior fellow at the Center for
Global Development who studies supply chains.
He said that, if the divergence persists, more countries will
likely sign supply deals with China and Russia, which have been
eagerly providing doses made by their manufacturers.
Write to Jared S. Hopkins at jared.hopkins@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 02, 2021 16:42 ET (20:42 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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