Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Government and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), to enable access to its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine through a novel mechanism – the COVAX Humanitarian Buffer – that will serve to protect the world’s most vulnerable people. The first deliveries to the COVAX Humanitarian Buffer are anticipated to begin in the coming days.
The COVAX Humanitarian Buffer is part of the COVAX Facility and is designed to ensure that people in conflict zones or humanitarian settings can access COVID-19 vaccines, even if they live beyond the reach of traditional, government vaccination campaigns. Governments and national and international humanitarian agencies are eligible to apply to receive doses from the COVAX Humanitarian Buffer. If applications are granted and the doses allocated, the governments or humanitarian agencies that filed the application then carry out the vaccination campaigns to ensure people are protected from COVID-19.
“We believe our single-shot COVID-19 vaccine has a critical role to play in conflict zones and other humanitarian settings that can’t be reached by government vaccination campaigns, and we are proud to be part of this effort to protect the world’s most vulnerable people,” said Paul Stoffels, M.D., Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee and Chief Scientific Officer. “From the beginning of the pandemic, Johnson & Johnson has recognized that no one is safe until everyone is safe and has worked to develop and deliver a vaccine that can protect the health of people everywhere.”
The establishment of the COVAX Humanitarian Buffer is of critical importance to global health and ending the COVID-19 pandemic for everyone, everywhere. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee, the longest-standing and highest-level humanitarian coordination forum of the United Nations system, estimates that approximately 167 million people, including an estimated 60-80 million people in areas beyond the reach of national health authorities, are at risk of exclusion from COVID-19 vaccination. Vaccinating these people, who represent some of the world’s most vulnerable populations, is crucial given that many of them may lack access to other healthcare resources should they be sickened by COVID-19.
Equitable Global Access to the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine
Johnson & Johnson is committed to facilitating equitable global access to its COVID-19 vaccine, and believes it is critical to protect as many people as possible against hospitalization and death. The Company has committed to providing its vaccine on a not-for-profit basis globally for emergency pandemic use, and is making available up to 900 million doses of its vaccine to the COVAX Facility and the African Union through 2022.
The Company firmly believes that inequitable access to COVID-19 vaccines will only prolong the pandemic, and is strongly advocating that governments with available doses follow the example of the U.S., the U.K. and other countries, and immediately ramp up dose sharing, particularly through the COVAX Facility.