Operation Warp Speed: implications for global vaccine security.

Several global efforts are underway to develop COVID-19 vaccines, and interim analyses from phase 3 clinical testing have been announced by nine organisations: Pfizer, the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm Group, Sinovac Biotech, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, and CanSino Biologics. The US programme known as Operation Warp Speed provided US$18 billion in funding for development of vaccines that were intended for US populations. Depending on safety and efficacy, vaccines can become available through mechanisms for emergency use, expanded access with informed consent, or full licensure. An important question is: how will these Operation Warp Speed vaccines be used for COVID-19 prevention in global health settings? We address some key questions that arise in the transition from US to global vaccine prevention efforts and from ethical and logistical issues to those that are relevant to global vaccine security, justice, equity, and diplomacy.
Competing Interests: Declaration of interests JHK reports personal fees from SK Biosciences. MEB and PH are developers of a COVID-19 vaccine construct, which was licensed by Baylor College of Medicine to Biological E, a commercial vaccine manufacturer, for scale-up, production, testing, and licensure. MG participates in one of eight SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development projects supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey since March, 2020. JPF and GK are members of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts in Immunization Working Group on COVID-19 vaccines. GK is independent director of Hilleman Laboratories and vice chair of the board for CEPI. SG is cofounder of Vaccitech and has a patent on ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 licensed to AstraZeneca. MH is founder and managing director of SaudiVax. HL reports grants and honoraria from GlaxoSmithKline for training talks and from Merck as a member of the Merck Vaccine Confidence Advisory Board, outside the submitted work. TS reports grants from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and Fast Grants and research contracts from GlaxoSmithKline and ViiV Healthcare. SS reports grants from Ansun BioPharma, Astellas Pharma, Cidara Therapeutics, F2G, Merck, T2 Biosystems, Shire Pharmaceuticals, Shionogi, and Gilead Sciences, outside the submitted work; and personal fees from Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Acidophil, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Reviral, Intermountain Healthcare, Karyopharm Therapeutics, Immunome, and Celltrion, outside the submitted work. All other authors declare no competing interests.
(Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)