Vaccines

Tender description

The UK has joined the multilateral vaccine procurement initiative — COVAX. The UK has committed GBP 71 million to secure purchase rights for vaccine for up to 20 % of the total UK population (~13.46 m people) through the ‘self-financing’ arm of the facility (this is separate from the GBP 548 contribution made to COVAX to support vaccine access for lower income countries). COVAX provides an opportunity to secure access to additional vaccine candidates and further diversify the UK domestic portfolio. The UK joined COVAX through the ‘Optional Purchase Route’ which enables HMG to decide whether to purchase a specific vaccine candidate through COVAX once key information on terms become available. We have the chance to opt out of procurement before COVAX signs a binding Advance Purchase Agreement with a manufacturer (Decision Window 1) or at the point COVAX is due to confirm orders with a specific manufacturer (Decision Window 2). There is agreement in principle that COVAX will include an Exchange mechanism whereby participants can trade doses but this has not been set up so we do not have option to trade vaccines yet.