COVAX – Time to reconsider the strategy and its target

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 world...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bell, David, Brown, Garrett W., Oyibo, Wellington A., Ouédraogo, Samiratou, Tacheva, Blagovesta, Barbaud, Elena, Kalk, Andreas, Ridde, Valéry, Paul, Elisabeth
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2023
Materias:
Article(s) from the Special Issue on COVID-19 health policies in middle- and low-income countries; Edited by Ruth Waitzberg and Anat Rosenthal
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10098302/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37073303
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hpopen.2023.100096
Descripción
Sumario: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.

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