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03 23 2022
COVAX Vaccine Platform Program |Aquasky

COVAX Vaccine Platform Program |Aquasky

COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access referred to as the COVAX program, which is conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), the Coalition for Epidemic Prevention Innovations (CEPI), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The main purpose is to make rich countries help poor countries to ensure the COVID-19 vaccine can be obtained quickly and equitably in the world.

 

The COVAX program is expected to deliver at least 2 billion doses of vaccine worldwide by the end of 2021. 1.3 billion will be sent to 92 low-income countries participating in the program, bringing the vaccine rate of these countries to 20% of the population. Its vaccination can be roughly divided into three stages. In the first stage, medical staff and social care workers who need to take care of patients give priority to the vaccination rate of 3%. In the second stage, age over 65 and those whose disease has high risk are in danger of COVID-19 need to achieve a 20% vaccination rate. In the third stage, other priority groups will be gradually opened to further increase the vaccination rate. The vaccines provided by the COVAX program have passed the World Health Organization EUL. There are currently six vaccines including Pfizer BNT, Oxford AZ, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinopharm, and Sinovac.

 

The countries participating in the contribution include the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, and other countries. In addition to providing funds, these countries also promised to make additional vaccine injections. Among them, the United Kingdom pledged to donate 734 million US dollars and at least 100 million doses of vaccines. The United States also pledged to donate 500 million doses of the vaccine through COVAX after the G7 meeting. Japan also announced an additional donation of US$800 million in June, bringing the total donation to US$1 billion.

 

As of early 2021, a total of 192 countries have joined the COVAX program. In February of 2021, Ghana became the first beneficiary country of the COVAX program to distribute vaccines. Ivory Coast, also called Côte d'Ivoire, received 504,000 doses of AZ vaccine from the Serum Institute of India, becoming the second beneficiary country. North Korea will also receive 1.7 million doses of the AZ vaccine. At the end of April in 2021, AZ vaccine had been provided 300 million doses of vaccine in more than 165 countries.

 

In June, the World Health Organization said the program had delivered 90 million doses of the vaccine to 131 countries. However, after the Serum Institute of India, the largest vaccine manufacturer, was severely affected by the domestic epidemic and the shortage of raw materials for production, the countries that depended on the vaccine program were seriously affected, and at least 5 countries reported 100 million yuan in returns. the situation of shortage. COVAX admitted in September that only 1.425 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will be available this year, far short of expectations. The number of vaccines needed for the original plan could only be reached as early as the first quarter of 2022. India later announced that it would restart some exports in October and start delivering the vaccines needed by COVAX, but the quantity that can be shipped is not yet known, and the sharing of vaccines is also a matter of timeliness.

 

The World Health Organization previously stipulated that every country must complete 10% of the total population by the end of September 2021. At present, there are still 50 countries that have not reached the standard. Some of them are low-income countries or regions, and they had not only medical infrastructure issues to deal with but also vaccine supply. Some countries even had to deal with civil wars, such as Yemen, Syria, Myanmar, etc... This has also encountered difficulties in vaccine promotion due to their internal problems. In some wealthy countries, such as Taiwan, where vaccine shipments are delayed or other problems, vaccination rates are also below 10 percent. Of the 54 countries in the African region, only 15 have reached the 10% target, and the other countries have a vaccination rate of less than 2%. Burundi and Eritrea, also in Africa, have not even started vaccinations.

 

In contrast, some wealthy countries had excess vaccine stockpiles, many of which may need to be thrown away due to expiry dates. From this point, it can be found that the imbalanced state of vaccine supply is quite serious. According to Human Rights Watch, 75% of Covid-19 vaccines were sent to 10 countries. The Economist Intelligence Unit calculated that half of all vaccines to date have gone to 15% of the global population, with the world's richest countries vaccinating 100 times as many as the poorest. When some powerful countries had begun to strengthen the administration of injections, there may still be 1.2 billion unneeded stocks. If 2.41 doses of vaccines cannot be donated as soon as possible, it would become a waste.

 

Aurélia Nguyen, COVAX's manager, believes it's not just the government that needed to act. Vaccine makers should also commit to prioritizing assistance with the COVAX program, rather than bilateral deals with countries with adequate doses. Because for many, these doses are not just numbers, they are the key to the lives that can be saved.

 

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