Kenilworth, N.J.-based Merck ended a long-term agreement with UNICEF and Gavi — a global public-private partnership that works to increases vaccine access in poor countries — to supply its rotavirus vaccine to children in West Africa, according to NPR.
Here are four things to know:
1. Merck will taper its supply of RotaTeq over the next two years and completely stop sending the vaccine to West Africa by 2020, according to Gavi.
"This was [a] difficult decision for us, which did not come lightly," a Merck spokesperson wrote in an email to NPR. "We would like to express our deepest regret to all of the parties involved and have offered to assist and work with UNICEF, Gavi and affected countries through the transition to alternative images [versions] of rotavirus vaccines."
2. Merck told NPR it could no longer supply the vaccine to West Africa due to supply shortages caused by "country-specific requirements, unanticipated manufacturing issues and packaging challenges that put greater stress on our already strained packaging capacity."
3. Merck's decision means more than 50,000 children in West Africa may not have access to the vaccine in 2018-19. More than 2 million will potentially go without the vaccine in 2020.
"This is deeply disappointing news and in the short term will mean that children are likely to miss out on this lifesaving vaccine, leaving them vulnerable to this horrific disease," Seth Berkley, MD, CEO of Gavi, told NPR in a written statement.
4. Merck is shifting its focus to sell RotaTeq in the China market, where the price per dose will likely be 10 times more than what Gavi paid for the vaccine, according to NPR. In September, the Chinese firm Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products Co. purchased 84,000 doses from Merck and said it planned to acquire another $450 million worth of vaccines over the next three years.
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