The concerns were raised during the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) Engagement Group virtual meeting on Monday. It was led by co-chairs Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, Ethiopian Health Minister Lia Tadesse and Canadian International Development Minister Karina Gould.

During the meeting, the group discussed the latest updates on COVAX’s funding, as well as vaccine availability and delivery, including details of the batch to be delivered in the fourth quarter this year.

It also talked about targets of vaccine distribution to be achieved this year and potential mitigation of the risk of a lack of vaccines.

“Many countries are experiencing spikes in cases and deaths due to new variants and policies to ease restrictions. Meanwhile, the global vaccination gap continues to widen,” Retno said. “If this continues, the world will never win against COVID-19.”

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She echoed the statement made by World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in late June, saying that the world was in a dangerous stage of the pandemic due to the vaccination gap between countries.

The Indonesian minister encouraged the acceleration of global vaccination by increasing and diversifying vaccine production, expanding the vaccine portfolio distributed under the scheme and increasing the vaccination capacity of AMC countries.

The AMC scheme gives 92 low- and middle-income countries, including Indonesia, access to COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX, which is backed by the WHO, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and GAVI, The Vaccine Alliance.

During the first half of 2021, COVAX delivered 103 million doses to 135 countries. Meanwhile, the GAVI alliance board has approved funding to support the delivery to AMC participating countries worth around US$775 million.

Indonesia is banking on COVAX's promise to provide access to vaccines for 20 percent of a country’s population. According to the calculation, Indonesia is expected to get more than 100 million doses assuming the COVID-19 vaccine requires two injections.

So far, Indonesia has received 11.2 million doses of vaccines produced by AstraZeneca and Moderna through the mechanism.

But many developing countries are facing various issues that hinder them from ramping up their national vaccination rate to the level that could provide collective protection, putting them at high risk of seeing a surge in COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths.

Indonesia is currently facing its worst wave of the coronavirus pandemic, with almost 40,000 new cases and around 1,000 deaths reported every day.

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Apart from the low capacity of vaccination in each country, vaccine supplies for the multilateral scheme have also been hampered. COVAX has so far relied on AstraZeneca vaccines, but delays in shipments from the Serum Institute of India have slowed its distribution.

In March, India reportedly embargoed the export of vaccines produced within the country, including those earmarked for the COVAX facility, as the South Asian country prioritized them for domestic needs amid an infection surge.

Bloomberg has reported that two Chinese vaccine developers Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) have stated their intention to sell their vaccines to COVAX. Sinopharm has pledged to provide 60 million doses from July to October, while Sinovac promises to supply 380 million doses.

Vaccines produced by both Chinese firms are based on an inactivated form of the SARS-CoV-2. While Sinopharm and Sinovac’s vaccines were only cleared for emergency use by WHO in May and June, respectively, they have already been widely distributed across the world through China’s bilateral deals with several developing countries.

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As an attempt to ensure supplies for the national vaccination program, Indonesia and 57 other countries have also proposed to purchase vaccines through a cost-sharing mechanism.

The Indonesian Foreign Ministry also hopes the increase in countries participating in the dose-sharing scheme of their excess vaccines will support the global vaccine supply used by AMC countries.

According to COVAX, more than 530 million doses were already in a commitment under the scheme and ready to be distributed to countries in need as of Monday.