Good Day BIO: The UN COVID summit is today – here's what to expect

President Biden will convene the UN General Assembly’s virtual COVID-19 summit today—and we’re here to remind you that sharing vaccines, not weakening IP protections, is how we get the world vaccinated.

Breaking news: President Biden is expected to kick off the summit by announcing the U.S. will buy 500 million more vaccine doses to donate to countries in need, bringing the total to 1.1 billion doses, according to reports.

Mark your calendar for September 2022—Biden’s deadline to vaccinate 70% of the world, a target he’s expected to ask leaders to commit to today, per POLITICO Pulse. 

To get there, we need to share—but that’s easier said than done, due to U.S. and global trade restrictions, supply chain bottlenecks, and a need for more funding for COVAX. 

BIO has proposed a solution:COVID Global Strategy for Harnessing Access Reaching Everyone (SHARE) Program, which would ensure vaccine supply and access as well as strengthen and support health care systems in low- and middle-income countries. (And it seems like the administration is paying attention.)

What won’t work? A waiver of IP protections,as we’ve explained. (POLITICO Pulse says this is “not expected to be featured high on the agenda” today.) 

“No expert seriously thinks suspending IP protections will boost vaccine supply,” when production is already at capacity, says Gary Locke, former U.S. Commerce Secretary, Washington State Governor, and U.S. Ambassador to China, in a recent Seattle Times op-ed. “It would take years for new companies to learn to make the vaccines and build specialized factories.” 

The bottom line: The U.S. and other wealthy nations need “to do the hard work of expanding manufacturing capacity and distributing vaccines,” he concludes. 

Listen: BIO President and CEO Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath spoke about this topic (and others) with World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala—listen here.

More Health Care News:

Biopharma Dive: Second dose of J&J's coronavirus vaccine increases protection, company says
“Summary results from an international Phase 3 trial run by J&J showed an additional shot, given eight weeks after the first, resulted in an estimated 75% protection against moderate to severe COVID-19, compared to placebo. Looking only at study participants in the U.S., J&J reported a higher efficacy estimate of 94%, but that figure was based on far fewer cases than the overall rate.”

It’s International Car Free Day—but thanks to biotech, this could become a relic of the past.

“The U.S. transportation sector leads all other sectors in greenhouse gas emissions,”writes BIO’s Cornelia Poku, accounting for 29% in 2019, a larger share than electricity, industry, or agriculture, according to the EPA. 

Enter Car Free Day—“a day when folks make a pledge to walk or use public transportation with the goal of bringing about clearer skies and less traffic for one day,” she says. 

But thanks to biotech innovation, we may not need a “car-free day” to make transportation more sustainable. 

Biotech and fuel companies are harnessing crops, waste, and algae to make sustainable fuels. Sustainable fuels like ethanol already emit 43% fewer emissions than gasoline, equivalent to taking about 7.34 million cars off the road for a whole year. And new technologies from energy crops can eliminate emissions completely. Soon, we may even see zero-carbon sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

So, rather than one day of action, we need low-carbon fuel standards to drive the development and adoption of these technologies. Currently, only California, Oregon, and Washington State have one—but we’re hopeful for a national standard in the future.

In context: The Biden administration and aviation sector recently announced a plan to work together to reduce aviation emissions 20% by 2030, which includes a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge to increase production to at least 3 billion gallons per year by 2030. Meanwhile, a SAF tax credit is making its way through Congress.  

Read the whole thing.

More Agriculture and Environment News:

Hagstrom Report: Vilsack counters EU ‘farm to fork’ strategy; EU groups raise productivity concerns
"Speaking to reporters by telephone from the G-20 Agricultural Ministerial Meeting in Florence, Italy, on Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he is trying to encourage other countries to join the United States in a Coalition for Productivity Growth to “counter” the European Union’s Farm to Fork sustainability strategy."

Bloomberg: Gates Raises $1 Billion as Corporate CEOs Join Race to Scale Clean Tech
"Gates established Breakthrough Energy Catalyst to accelerate the commercial viability of four key solutions to the climate crisis: green hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuel, long-duration battery storage, and carbon capture from the air."

Bloomberg: U.K. weighs joining USMCA pact as hopes for U.S.-only deal fade
“Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated Tuesday that he doesn’t expect to secure the free-trade pact he seeks with the U.S. before the next U.K. general election due in 2024.”

Ynes Mexia was a Mexican-American botanist known as one of the most successful female plant collectors of her time—despite starting this career when she was 55 years old. She led expeditions throughout Mexico, South America, and Central America. The discovery of 500 new species of plants has been attributed to her, with 50 named in her honor.

Meet more Hispanic and Latinx scientists and innovators you should know.

President Biden’s Wednesday: Convening the UN General Assembly virtual COVID summit at 11 AM ET. 

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: The House will continue consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and government funding package; the deadline to avoid a shutdown is September 30. The Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship will hold a hearing on the NIH's SBIR/STTR programs, while House committees will look at COVID-19’s impact on children and pandemic relief programs. Meanwhile, the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is scheduled to meet today and tomorrow to discuss COVID vaccine boosters; the meeting will be livestreamed here.