Western University researchers call on Canada to improve global vaccine equity

A vaccine is shown in the hands of a health care professional. (Getty Images)

A group of researchers in London, Ont. want to see action on global vaccine equity to help end the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a new paper published in the International Journal of Public Health, four members of Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry say legislation and policy are needed to increase vaccine access and reduce the risk of more variants developing.

Shehzad Ali, Canada Research Chair in Public Health Economics, Professor Michael Clarke of the Master of Public Health Program, Division of Infectious Diseases Chair Dr. Michael Silverman and Dr. Saverio Stranges, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics co-authored the paper.

The group would like to see existing mechanisms to suspend patents and allow generic manufacturing implemented.

“The current COVID-19 pandemic and the obviously skewed and unjust global distribution of vaccines represent solid grounds for employing a compulsory license or waiver for the generic manufacture of vaccines,” said Stranges in a statement.

He added that while donations from high-income countries may help in the short term, establishing local manufacturing in low- and middle-income regions is more sustainable in the long term.

United Nations data shows that as of Jan. 26, about 67.5 per cent of people in high-income countries have received at least one dose, compared to 11.2 per cent in low-income countries.

In addition, promised doses of the vaccine from high-income countries have been slow to be delivered.

As of Dec. 2021 Canada has drawn nearly one million doses from the World Health Organization’s COVAX program and has delivered only 3.2 million of the 40 million doses it promised.

In 2006 Canada was the first country to use legislation, the Canada Access to Medicines Regime, to waive intellectual property rights, manufacture and distribute an anti-HIV drug requested by Rwanda.

It's that legislation that Clarke said needs to be refined and integrated for Canada to “re-establish its global leadership in the provision of essential medicine.”

While compulsory licenses and intellectual property waivers are not the only solution, the group says they are a necessary step right now.

Ali said most developing countries have established immunization programs that can help fight pandemics, “However, these programs are chronically underfunded and have persistent inequalities. This is where Canada, and the Global North, also need to think beyond vaccine supply.”

The full publication can be found here.