Imagine, for a moment, that a team of scientists from Melbourne is the first in the world to develop a safe vaccine for COVID-19. Then imagine that the vaccine is only made available to people in Victoria, regardless of age, health or exposure to the virus.
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Would that be fair, or should the vaccine first be given to those most at risk of death from the virus - across the country, indeed the world?
That is the types of trade-off we have not had to face as a global community before. How do we distribute the vaccine to maximise the common good and the potential for all to safely and permanently emerge from this pandemic?
As the international community edges closer to finding a COVID-19 vaccine, with some researchers hopeful of a breakthrough by the end of the year, it's now more pressing than ever that we ensure a globally equitable distribution of any future effective treatments and vaccines.
Given unprecedented global demand, initial supplies of a vaccine are likely to be extremely limited. The current best-case estimate by the World Health Organisation is that no more than a few hundred million doses will be available by December 2020, scaling to a cumulative 2 billion doses by end 2021.
This will present humankind with a challenge nearly as great as developing a vaccine. That is, whom should be first in line to receive the vaccine, why and where?
All would agree that front-line health workers ought to be prioritised, but then who? Those most at risk of a lethal COVID-19 infection? Those who are needed to kick-start our economies? Teachers to educate our children?
We encourage everyone to acknowledge the need to ensure any vaccine is directed to saving lives wherever they may be, including our near neighbours in the Pacific and south-east Asia.
This is why Australia, with a hefty $80 million funding pledge, has joined more than 170 other countries expressing interest in COVAX, "a global initiative aimed at working with vaccine manufacturers to provide countries all over the world with equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, once they are licensed and approved".
The Australian Red Cross strongly endorses this approach.
COVAX is essentially a pooled procurement mechanism, which consolidates manufacturing and distribution contracts (thereby averting a bidding war) and aims to guarantee all participating countries the ability to purchase vaccine doses for at least 20 percent of their population.
This means donor governments such as Australia can support costs for lower-income countries that lack the means to purchase the vaccine on their own. This includes our near neighbours in the Pacific such as Papua New Guinea, which is experiencing a new and devastating wave of the virus, crippling its already fragile health system.
By joining COVAX, Australia is leading the region's fight to bring the pandemic under control through a fair and equitable distribution of an eventual COVID-19 vaccine.
Making the right decisions around these issues here in Australia is just as important. As a nation we must decide how we allocate vaccine doses based on need, and prioritise those most at risk.
This includes front-line health workers, the elderly, people with a disability, First Nations people, and others who, for a variety of reasons, struggle to navigate their way through the national health system.
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The consequences of this global pandemic will continue to be significant. Treatments and a vaccine represent humanity's path out of this crisis. Doing this in a way which supports those most at risk - wherever they are - and which ensures the best collective outcome is so important.
The challenge for us all - the Australian government, humanitarian organisations, civil society, heath workers and the community at large - is to tackle a virus that has a single-minded raison d'être - to infect more people. It doesn't respect borders, wealth or status. Put simply, we are all at risk until none of us are.
We therefore must understand and support the rationale for the decisions which will be made on our collective behalf regarding the distribution of early treatments and vaccines.
This is why we are so encouraged by the steps that have been taken so far by the Australian government when it comes to a future vaccine. We encourage everyone to acknowledge the need to ensure any vaccine is directed to saving lives wherever they may be, including our near neighbours in the Pacific and south-east Asia.
The best way for this to happen is to be prepared to act quickly and equitably once a vaccine is available, by harnessing the collective buy-in and resources of communities, society and the health system to roll out a rapid and comprehensive vaccination campaign that reaches all.
- Judy Slatyer is chief executive of the Australian Red Cross.
