Colombia Gets First Of 28Mln Vaccines For Americas From COVAX - PAHO Chief

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2021) The arrival of 117,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19 marked the first distribution in plans by COVAX to supply 28.7 million doses to 36 nations in the Americas by May, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Carissa Etienne said Wednesday.

In COVAX's "First Wave" shipment, 117,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine arrived in El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, PAHO said in a press release.

"These first doses mark the beginning of a new phase of our COVID response," Etienne said in the release.

In the Americas, 36 countries are participating in COVAX, a partnership between the World Health Organization and two international groups - the Gavi vaccine alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), according to PAHO.

COVAX has told participating countries that a total of 28.7 million doses of vaccines would be delivered by May 2021, PAHO said.