Ensuring access to COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income economies
At the Global Vaccine Summit on June 4, Gavi launched the COVID-19 Vaccines Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC) as the first building block of the COVAX Facility. The Gavi COVAX AMC is the innovative financing instrument that will support the participation of 92 low- and middle-income economies in the COVAX Facility – enabling access to donor-funded doses of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. The AMC, combined with additional support for country readiness and delivery, will make sure the most vulnerable in all countries can be protected in the short term, regardless of income level.
Countries can send their CDS Needs-Based applications through the WHO Partner’s Platform. Gavi will continue to accept CDS applications as long as funding is available. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
All relevant documents can be found below.
The COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Support (CDS) Needs-Based Window is designed to cover programmatic and funding gaps in country plans to scale-up COVID-19 vaccine delivery through end of 2022. With ~US$ 400M in funding available for the AMC 61 countries, the window seeks to support key priorities in existing National Deployment and Vaccination Plans (NDVPs) and to leverage partners to fund remaining gaps. To respond to urgent situations putting delivery of COVAX doses at-risk, a short-term pathway exists to provide rapid access to funds to mitigate delivery issues.
Countries can send their CDS Needs-Based applications through the WHO COVID-19 Partners Platform. Gavi will continue to accept CDS applications as long as funding is available. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
This support is designed to enable rapid roll-out and scale up of COVAX-funded doses. To ensure that funding is available rapidly, Gavi is immediately making available up to $350M through a CDS Early Access window with an expedited request process. Countries can access the application form through the WHO COVID-19 Partners Platform which was used to submit National Deployment and Vaccination Plans for COVID-19 vaccine delivery earlier this year. The platform will be open for applications from Monday 5 July until the end of August 2021. All CDS Early Access requests require signature by the Minister of Health or his/her designee and applicants are expected to notify their Inter-agency Coordinating Committee of the request.
The COVAX Facility is making available cold chain equipment (CCE) support to participating AMC 92 countries, although priority will be given to the 57 Gavi-eligible economies. Find below guidance on how to complete the application, descriptions of supported technologies and services and the necessary forms and templates to complete.
To prepare all countries for COVID-19 vaccine introduction, WHO, UNICEF, Gavi, and partners are working together at the global and regional levels to support the AMC economies in the planning and preparation for introducing the COVID-19 vaccine. All AMC 92 economies are eligible to request TA although priority will be given to Gavi-eligible countries.
COVAX AMC Eligible Economies should confirm participation in the AMC by submitting a completed and signed Vaccine Request – Part A, which should be submitted to covaxproposals@gavi.org, with a copy sent to the relevant Gavi Senior Country Manager (if applicable) or country focal point by 7 December 2020. To complete the submission Vaccine Request – Part B should be submitted to covaxproposals@gavi.org, with a copy sent to the relevant Gavi Senior Country Manager or focal point (whichever is applicable) by 8 January 2020.
An outline of the process that countries will be required to follow for COVAX Facility funding as well as elements to consider in requests.
For AMC92 countries that require direct assistance with the legal requirements pertaining to indemnification or the no-fault compensation system, COVAX has arranged for such assistance to be provided through the organizations identified below. You may choose to contact these two organizations or work with your own resources or with consultants or attorneys you may decide to engage directly. These organizations and the relevant contact information are detailed below.
In order to receive vaccines through the COVAX Facility, participating governments must legally authorize one or more actions in order to comply with the COVAX template indemnity agreement. Not all governments desiring to procure vaccines through COVAX will have current or past experience identifying, applying, or amending laws or regulations that will satisfy the indemnity agreement provisions. In order to provide assistance to those governments wishing to consider legal alternatives, the COVAX Facility has partnered with the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, which has analyzed legal authorizations used by governments representing diverse legal and constitutional traditions to facilitate procurement of vaccines generally and, in some cases, COVAX specifically.
Authorizations for indemnity to vaccine manufacturers, distributors, and administrators has been enacted through three primary legal channels: public procurement laws, public health emergency laws, and laws specific to immunization. Legal precedents from 20 jurisdictions are included. Nine were adopted pursuant to COVID-19 specifically: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, EU, Malawi, Philippines, UK. Eleven were enacted previously: Ghana, Lao DPR, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zambia.
The relevant clauses are listed following the designation of each statutory or administrative authorization. These statutes, regulations, rules, and decrees do not constitute legal advice, nor are these legal precedents maintained for day-to-day accuracy as some are subject to ministerial review and amendment on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. They are intended only to provide guidance as to how governments procuring vaccines through COVAX may take the necessary legal steps to satisfy COVAX requirements.
Governments choosing to receive vaccines through COVAX must be able to show that they may legally indemnify COVAX partners, that is, accept legal and financial responsibility, for serious adverse reactions following immunization (SAEFI) with vaccines procured through the COVAX Facility.
This checklist is intended to assist countries identify the legal authorizations that may be used to fulfill these requirements. These legal authorities may be found in the constitutional text, in legislation, in regulations that may be issued by a proper authority, or by decree of the executive or authorized ministry. The checklist is supported by, and may be cross-referenced with, the accompanying resource, Authorizations for Vaccine Procurement from 20 Governments.
The checklist below provides steps for legal review that may be taken to ensure that proper authority exists to enter into agreements with COVAX Facility partners. Relevant laws may be found in more than one of these general areas, and proper authority may be codified in more general laws like those authorizing the president or executive to act during an emergency. Laws identified should still be reviewed against the national constitution, which may impose limits on borrowing, public finance, or relinquishment of legal claims by individual citizens.