CHICAGO — Even with COVID-19 vaccines now available to all Americans age 12 and up, and with significant progress already made in vaccinating people in the United States, COVID variants continue to appear in the U.S. and abroad, threatening repeated surges of infections, particularly among those without access to vaccinations. With that danger front and center, physicians, residents and medical students at the Special Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates (HOD) today adopted policy to promote equitable resource distribution globally in the fight against COVID-19.

To that end, the AMA will explore assistance through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative co-led by the World Health Organization, Gavi, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, as well as all other relevant organizations, for residents of countries with limited financial or technological resources. 

“COVID-19 is a public health and humanitarian crisis,” said AMA Board Chair-elect Bobby Mukkamala, M.D. “Even as we in the United States have easy access to vaccines, physicians and numerous organizations across the globe— particularly in low- and middle-income countries—are still risking their lives fighting COVID-19 in conditions where hospital capacity is strained, medical supplies are diminished and community spread is rampant. The situation is dire, giving rise to new, more transmissible, more dangerous variants, and global cooperation to ensure equitable distribution of resources is essential to defeating COVID-19. The situation may seem to be getting better here, but in a global pandemic, threats abroad can quickly become threats in the United States and set us all back.”

The policy urged specific steps to bolster production and distribution of therapeutics and vaccines necessary to combat COVID-19. The steps include a temporary waiver of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agreement and other relevant property protections; technological transfers relevant for vaccine production; and other support, financial and otherwise, necessary to scale up global vaccine manufacturing. 

The new policy also says the AMA will work with government and regulatory bodies to encourage prioritization of equity when providing pandemic-related resources, including diagnostics, low-cost or free medications, therapeutics, vaccines, raw materials for vaccine production, and personal protective equipment.