COVAX – Time to reconsider the strategy and its target

David Bell, Garrett Wallace Brown, Wellington Oyibo, Samiratou Ouédraogo, Blagovesta Tacheva, Elena Barbaud, Andreas Kalk, Valéry Ridde and Elisabeth Paul

ULB Institutional Repository from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles

Abstract: COVAX, the international initiative supporting COVID-19 vaccination campaigns globally, is budgeted to be the costliest public health initiative in low- and middle-income countries, with over 16 billion US dollars already committed. While some claim that the target of vaccinating 70% of people worldwide is justified on equity grounds, we argue that this rationale is wrong for two reasons. First, mass COVID-19 vaccination campaigns do not meet standard public health requirements for clear expected benefit, based on costs, disease burden and intervention effectiveness. Second, it constitutes a diversion of resources from more cost-effective and impactful public health programmes, thus reducing health equity. We conclude that the COVAX initiative warrants urgent review.

Date: 2023-04
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Published in: Health Policy OPEN (2023),p.100096

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