Covax will receive the donated vaccine soon.
Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Image via Getty Images
- Covax plans to donate 250 million vaccines soon.
- The WHO said that this will promote some countries that are lagging behind in vaccine promotion.
- Under Covax, poorer countries will get the vaccine for free.
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that Covax expects to receive 250 million doses of donated Covid-19 vaccine in the next six to eight weeks.
The influx of doses is the main driving force of the plan, which aims to ensure that poorer countries have access to vaccinations. To date, 152 million doses of vaccine have been provided to 137 participating regions.
In its weekly business update released on Wednesday, WHO stated that at a recent UN crisis management team meeting, it “reported that it will increase vaccine donations to Covax facilities, and is expected to increase by 250 million in the next six to eight weeks Support vaccine”.
Covax is jointly led by WHO, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, and the Alliance for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, and UNICEF uses its vaccine logistics expertise to handle delivery flights.
Under Covax, the 92 poorest countries can get jabs for free, and donors bear the cost.
The plant where the Serum Institute of India produces the AstraZeneca drug should have been an early pillar of the Covax supply chain-but India restricted exports in response to its own destructive coronavirus surge.
After these delivery problems, Covax increasingly relied on doses donated by rich countries, which purchased more batches than they needed.
Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, said: “Global demand for vaccines far exceeds supply, leaving millions of the most vulnerable people unprotected, and the higher global vaccine coverage is our defense against new variants. One of the best barriers.”
vaccine
The WHO is angry at the serious imbalance between rich and poor countries in access to the Covid-19 vaccine.
Although some countries are considering vaccination and booster shots for children, other countries have so far been unable to vaccinate the elderly (the age group most at risk of serious diseases) and health care workers.
According to statistics from Agence France-Presse, nearly 4 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been injected in at least 216 regions around the world.
In high-income countries classified by the World Bank, 96.7 doses were vaccinated for every 100 residents. Most Covid vaccines require two injections to provide full protection.
In the 29 lowest-income countries, this figure is only 1.6 doses per 100 people.
Tanzania is scheduled to launch vaccination on Wednesday. Only Burundi, Eritrea and North Korea are the only countries that have not yet started immunization campaigns for Covid-19.
On Saturday, Tanzania received the first dose of vaccine: more than 1 million single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccines donated by the United States through Covax.
During the period 2021-2022, Covax expects to donate at least 610 million doses.
Among them, 260 million are from the United States, 200 million are from EU countries, 80 million are from the United Kingdom, and about 30 million are from Canada and Japan.
