COVAX seeks civil society representatives to contribute to ensuring equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines

Applications for this Call have now closed. The deadline was 14 September 2020.

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CEPI, Gavi and the World Health Organization (WHO) are seeking representatives from civil society and community organisations (CSOs) to participate in COVAX - the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator - which aims to develop, manufacture and fairly allocate 2 billion doses of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2021 to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CSOs will play a vital role in the development and implementation of the COVAX initiative as well as the deployment of any successful vaccine through COVAX.

Specifically, we are looking for CSO representatives to participate in coordination meetings and a number of specific workstreams of COVAX. We anticipate that the roles of CSOs will include fostering the necessary support at a political and community engagement level to ensure equitable access and delivery of future COVID-19 vaccine; providing in-depth subject matter expertise in one or more areas including vaccine R&D, manufacturing, delivery, demand, access and allocation, policy, governance; and, acting as an advocate for civil society and community perspectives as appropriate. We also seek representatives' input in building public trust and capacity across healthcare systems for COVID-19 vaccination programmes.

In addition to nominated representatives, broader CSOs will also be engaged in COVAX through other forums.

Ensuring global equitable access through COVAX

COVAX provides an end-to-end solution to the challenge of vaccine development, manufacture and supply in the COVID-19 pandemic through bringing together the skills, expertise and resources of the public, private and philanthropic sectors on a global scale. The ultimate goal is to guarantee equitable access to COVID-19 vaccine, saving millions of lives and transforming the economic prospects of societies around the world.

COVAX works by pooling financial resources to purchase vaccines at scale, sharing the risks associated with developing vaccines and investing up-front in manufacturing so that vaccines are ready to be distributed as soon as they are licensed.

Countries of all income levels can participate in the COVAX Facility, a financing mechanism established by the COVAX partners. Lower-income countries will be supported through voluntary donations to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a mechanism within the COVAX Facility. Safe and effective vaccines will be delivered equally to all participating countries, proportional to their populations, initially prioritising healthcare workers then expanding to cover 20% of participating country populations. Further doses will be made available based on country need, vulnerability and COVID-19 threat, with the COVAX Facility also maintaining a buffer of doses for emergency and humanitarian use, including dealing with severe outbreaks.
 

How to Apply

CSOs can nominate a representative for consideration to participate in the COVAX coordination meeting and the following COVAX workstreams:

Technical review group

Enabling Science SWAT

Manufacturing SWAT

Clinical development and operations SWAT

Vaccine strategy, Access and allocation, and Country readiness and delivery coordination group and sub-groups

For further details and information on each of the COVAX workstreams and how to apply to serve as a civil society representative for these workstreams, please visit our Calls page.

Representatives will be chosen following assessment by a selection panel. COVAX aims to have representation across the required areas of expertise, and to the extent possible ensuring geographical diversity and gender equitable membership.

The deadline for applications has been extended to 14 September, 2020.