In a controversial move, Merck is rolling back its commitment to provide a life-saving rotavirus vaccine to parts of West Africa at the same time the drug maker is ramping up supplies to China, where the product would reportedly be sold for a much higher price.
The company supplies its RotaTeq vaccine through an arrangement with GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private partnership that helps provide medicines and vaccines to low-income countries. However, Merck is reducing shipments by one-third this year and next, according to GAVI. After that, supplies are not expected.
About 4.7 million doses will be delivered this year and 4 million next year.
As a result, more than a half million children in four countries — Burkina Faso, Mali, Ivory Coast, and Sao Tome — may not receive the vaccine for the illness, which inflames stomachs and intestines and is the world’s leading cause of diarrhea. About 213,000 deaths among children were attributed to rotavirus in 2013, according to the World Health Organization.