WHO Adviser Says COVAX Beneficiaries May Begin Vaccinations In March If Demand Fulfilled

Muhammad Irfan Published March 02, 2021 | 08:31 PM

All 142 countries participating in the COVAX Facility that have not started vaccination campaigns yet will be able to launch the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines among their population in March, provided that pharmaceutical companies meet the demand, the World Health Organization's (WHO) senior adviser, Bruce Aylward, said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd March, 2021) All 142 countries participating in the COVAX Facility that have not started vaccination campaigns yet will be able to launch the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines among their population in March, provided that pharmaceutical companies meet the demand, the World Health Organization's (WHO) senior adviser, Bruce Aylward, said on Tuesday.

On Monday, the international vaccine alliance Gavi said that Ghana and the Ivory Coast became the first countries to launch vaccinations with doses shipped by COVAX. Both countries received the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine licensed and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.

"It is completely possible to ensure that all countries that have not yet started could begin vaccinating in March. The challenge really remains whether or not now the manufacturers can keep up with the tremendous amount of orders that COVAX is putting through them, but as importantly, that COVAX can access the vaccines and the doses that have been assured to it, to make sure that it can serve all of those countries," WHO senior adviser Bruce Aylward said at a press briefing.

COVAX is a component of the global ACT Accelerator facility whose aim is to bring together and make equitably accessible all global developments in the diagnostics, treatment and vaccines against COVID-19. The COVAX facility is responsible for the equitable access to vaccines both for countries that can afford it and those in need of assistance. COVAX aims to ship close to two billion doses of vaccines by the end of 2021, in an unprecedented global effort to guarantee access to vaccines for all.