United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has launched the Covid-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard – an interactive tool for countries, partners and industry to follow the developments of the vaccine market.

The Covid-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard gives transparency and visibility to information on the Covid-19 vaccine market, UNICEF, which is the designated COVAX procurement coordinator and procurement agent, said in a statement.

The tool gives an overview of the vaccines in the pipeline, their development stage and technology platforms.

‘In this first release, the dashboard provides a regularly updated overview of the global research and development pipeline, the projected production capacity, publicly announced bilateral and multilateral supply agreements, as well as reported price points’, UNICEF said.

‘Once the ongoing joint UNICEF-PAHO tender on behalf of the COVAX Facility is complete, the dashboard will be expanded to provide visibility on progress towards the goal of the COVAX Facility to secure two billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021.

‘In 2021, the dashboard will provide an update on the status of procurement by UNICEF and other buyers participating in the COVAX Facility.

‘It will also track the status of deliveries by UNICEF and other participating national and institutional buyers’.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) had asked governments to maximise Covid-19 vaccine access and affordability for people worldwide.

In a 77-page report, Whoever Finds the Vaccine Must Share It’: Strengthening Human Rights and Transparency around Covid-19 Vaccines, the rights organisation also urged those funding vaccines with public money to be transparent about the terms and conditions attached.

In September 2020, Oxfam International reported that high-income countries had already reserved 51 percent of the doses of several leading vaccine candidates, even though those countries represent only 13 percent of the world’s population.

These deals, according to HRW, undermine universal and equitable global access to any vaccine found to be safe and effective, especially for low- and middle-income countries.

‘The Covid-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard is a testament to UNICEF’s firm commitment to transparency, recognising that the free flow of information and correcting information asymmetries is critical to underpin efficient markets’, UNICEF said.

Source: UNICEF

Photo source: NCDC