(Adds statement by IFPMA in new paras 6-8)
By Stephanie Nebehay and John Miller
GENEVA/ZURICH, March 23 (Reuters) - More producers of
COVID-19 vaccines should follow AstraZeneca's lead and
license technology to other manufacturers, the World Health
Organization's head said on Monday, as he described continuing
vaccine inequity as "grotesque".
AstraZeneca's shot, which new U.S. data on Monday showed was
safe and effective despite some countries suspending
inoculations over health concerns, is being produced in various
locations including South Korea's SKBioScience and the Serum
Institute of India.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for
more manufacturers to adopt this model to boost supplies,
including for the COVAX vaccine sharing programme seeking to
speed more shots to developing countries.
"The gap between number of vaccines administered in rich
countries and the number administered through COVAX is growing
and becoming more grotesque every day," Tedros told a news
conference.
"The inequitable distribution of vaccines is not just a
moral outrage. It's also economically and epidemiologically
self-defeating."
But the head of an industry group representing Big Pharma
rejected Tedros' criticism as showing "a lack of understanding
for the complexity of vaccine manufacturing and the global
supply chain".
Thomas Cueni, director general of the International
Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations
(IFPMA) said in a statement that scaling up of vaccine
production was on track thanks to partnerships among vaccine
makers in the developing and developed world collaborating "in a
manner never seen before".
"Technology transfer and collaborations are taking place on
a massive scale," Cueni said, citing deals between AstraZeneca
and Novavax with the Serum Institute in India, and
between Johnson & Johnson with Aspen Pharma in
South Africa and Biologic E in India.
Earlier, AstraZeneca released interim data showing its
vaccine, developed with Oxford University, was 79% effective in
preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and posed no increased risk of
blood clots.
WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan called it a "very
good vaccine for all age groups".
Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark have extended
suspensions of AstraZeneca's shot as investigations continue
into rare blood clotting events.
Still, WHO officials said African countries getting the
vaccine via COVAX are moving ahead.
"They did ask a lot of questions but the demand for the
vaccine is extremely high," said WHO senior adviser Bruce
Aylward.
(Additional reporting by Emma Farge and Silke Koltrowitz;
editing by Giles Elgood and Jason Neely)