Global drugmakers are lobbying for wealthy nations to fund a supply mechanism that would secure vaccines for low-income countries without delay in case of a new pandemic, but said the proposal was contingent on free cross-border trade.

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) said in a statement on Monday that global pandemic vaccine distribution needs to be put on a new footing because the world’s poorest countries were forced to wait for shots during the current pandemic.

"The industry is willing to reserve an allocation of real-time production for distribution to priority populations in lower income countries, as determined by health authorities during pandemics," said IFPMA director general Thomas Cueni.