"Major Countries Compete to Secure Vaccines While Advocating for COVID-19 Vaccines as Public Goods"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jeong] The competition among countries to secure vaccines for the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) is intensifying.

According to major foreign media including Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 26th, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), stated the day before, "I expect a COVID-19 vaccine to be developed within a year," adding, "If the vaccine development accelerates, it could take less time, possibly reducing the period by about two months."

He emphasized, "There are over 100 vaccine candidates at WHO, and one of them is in an advanced stage of development," and "Once the vaccine becomes a reality, it must become a public good accessible to all."

Leaders of various countries have urged that the vaccine should become a public good in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Chinese President Xi Jinping have previously made such claims.

However, major countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom are competing to secure COVID-19 vaccines first. The UK government has signed a contract with the multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to supply a total of 100 million doses of the vaccine. The US government also agreed to receive 300 million doses of the vaccine from the company in exchange for funding vaccine development.

AstraZeneca is developing the vaccine jointly with the University of Oxford and is currently considered the leading pharmaceutical company in vaccine development.

France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands have also formed a 'comprehensive vaccine alliance' to secure vaccines and signed a contract with AstraZeneca for the supply of 400 million doses. Canada, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have also sought to secure future vaccine supplies by providing financial support to Chinese companies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.