Norway to share Covid-19 vaccine with poorer countries at same time as protecting its own citizens

Norway has become one of the first countries in the world to explicitly commit to sharing Covid-19 vaccine doses with poorer countries at the same time as vaccinating its own citizens.

Dag-Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development, said Norway would begin donating doses of vaccines to lower-income nations as soon as jabs suitable for the countries get approval from the European Medicines Agency.

Norway's commitment follows a move from India this week to send vaccines under "grant assistance" to a number of neighbouring countries. The first shipments arrived on Wednesday in Bhutan and the Maldives.

“The Pharmacy of the World will deliver to overcome the COVID challenge,” Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said on Twitter. Other nearby countries, including Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Seychelles are also set to receive doses, described as gifts by some of the governments, soon.

Norway will donate doses in collaboration with the European Union, through the World Health Organization co-led Covax scheme, a mechanism aimed at distributing vaccines equitably around the globe.

Mr Ulstein told the Telegraph: "Norway will contribute to the fight against the global pandemic through donation of vaccines as soon as relevant candidates are approved.

"The distribution will be started gradually and in parallel to the current vaccination of the Norwegian population. We cannot wait until every citizen in rich countries is vaccinated before we start vaccinating people in the low-income countries."

Norway has already started vaccinating its citizens with the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, but because of the requirement to store that vaccine at -70C it is understood that the government does not believe it is suitable for lower-income settings.

Mr Ulstein said that Norway has access to three times as many vaccines as it needs, if all get approval, so can afford to give away doses. Norway has around five million citizens.

However, he did not say how many doses the country will donate in total, or whether it will share doses equally between Norwegians and others from the outset. So far it has secured 3.3 million doses of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca jab, which is more suitable for use in lower-income countries.

While a number of other nations - like France and Canada - have committed to sharing doses with Covax, as well as funding the initiative, most have said they will only do so once their own vulnerable populations are protected, or in some cases their entire populations. Many have also been cagey about timings.

The European Union said this week that it will "establish a mechanism" for sharing the 2.3 billion doses of vaccine it has procured. It plans to do so "before Covax is fully operational", according to health commissioner Stella Kyriakides. However, the details remain unclear, including when this might happen. The EU has a population of 450 million.

Norway's Mr Ulstein added: "Ensuring Covid-19 vaccines reach people in the world’s poorest countries isn’t just about being charitable. It is also in the best interest of every country to do so.

"If the virus is circulating in one country, the rest of the world remains at risk. The new mutations are a clear reminder of the urgency."

Norway's move comes after WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday that the world is on the brink of a "catastrophic moral failure" around vaccine distribution. While 39 million doses of vaccine have been administered across at least 49 higher-income countries, just 25 doses have been given in one-lowest income country, he said.

The UK's position on donating doses remains unclear.

Asked about the speech on Monday evening, Matt Hancock said: “I absolutely agree with Dr Tedros on the importance of a global rollout and we in the UK can be proud of what we are doing to support that happening financially.”

Yet in the same press conference, the health secretary reiterated that every adult in Britain will have been offered the coronavirus vaccine by autumn, rather than just the 25 million most vulnerable. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) estimates that 99 per cent of deaths will be prevented once the most vulnerable are protected.

The government again dodged the question of international vaccine supply in the House of Commons on Tuesday. Conservative MP Dr Andrew Murrison asked at what point the UK would donate vaccine to Covax, seeing as the government has ordered more than 350 million doses - far more than needed.

Nigel Adams, minister for Asia, said that the UK would continue to “leverage UK and global scientific expertise” and reiterated the government has committed £548 million to Covax to ensure low and middle income countries can access vaccines. Norway has pledged £387m.

“We expect the initial roll out to Covax AMC countries to start in the first quarter of this year,” Mr Adams said, without addressing if and when UK stock would be diverted.

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