The World Health Organization (WHO) immunization director Kate O’Brien has promised they will certainly start delivering COVID-19 vaccines to 190 countries, including Uganda, next month. The first focus will be on health workers and the elderly.
The planned vaccine deliveries will be made under the COVAX Facility created by the WHO, the Vaccine Alliance GAVI and The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), to support especially the needy lower-income countries (92 nations) by aggregating the demand.
COVAX is the Global Collaboration to Accelerate the Development, Production and Equitable Access to New COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccine.
“We need about $7 billion in order to deliver enough vaccine to these countries through the end of 2021. The facility has already raised about $6 billion of the $7 billion,” she said.
“So the facility has access to over 2 billion doses of vaccine. We will start to deliver those vaccines probably by the end of January, and if not, then certainly by early February and mid-February.”
She warned that the only way the year-old pandemic can be ended, is for everyone to have access to vaccines in all countries. "No country is safe until we are all safe," she said.
The World Health Organization last week granted emergency validation to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, paving the way for countries worldwide to quickly approve its import and distribution.
The WHO immunization director also confirmed they are studying up 15 potential other vaccines including those from China and Russia.
Uganda on list of 92 countries to benefit from COVAX AMC
In July the GAVI Board agreed on the 92 economies that will be supported the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC).
Low income: Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen.
Lower-middle income: Angola, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bolivia, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyztan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Mauritania, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, West Bank and Gaza, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Additional IDA eligible: Dominica, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Kosovo, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Samoa, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tonga and Tuvalu.
The COVAX Advance Market Commitment
COVAX is one of three pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, launched in April by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Commission and France in response to this pandemic.(click to watch video)
The 92 low and middle-income countries and economies approved by the GAVI Board will be able to access vaccines through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), which will also cover at least part of the cost.
The COVAX AMC forms part of the COVAX Facility, a mechanism hosted by GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, designed to guarantee rapid, fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for every country in the world.
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FULL REPORT#Uganda, Africa awaits CoviShield #vaccine from #India #AstraZeneca #COVISHIELD #COVID19 #Healthhttps://t.co/SRqgVUMVTX pic.twitter.com/sGe0mm9kp1
— The Independent (@UGIndependent) January 4, 2021
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