No one is safe in a fast-moving pandemic unless everybody is safe.
COVAX is led by CEPI, Gavi, and WHO, with UNICEF as a main distribution partner. The PAHO Revolving Fund is the recognised procurement agent for COVAX in the Americas.
The Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator's vaccine pillar is COVAX.
The ACT Accelerator is a game-changing global partnership aimed at accelerating the growth, manufacturing, and equitable distribution of COVID-19 studies, treatments, and vaccines. Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and WHO are leading COVAX. Its aim is to speed up the creation and production of COVID-19 vaccines while also ensuring equal and equitable access for all countries around the world.
COVAX: Why Do We Need It?
The most pressing challenge of our time is developing a COVID-19 vaccine, and no one succeeds unless everyone wins.
Hundreds of thousands of people have already died as a result of the global pandemic, and billions more have been affected. In addition to minimizing the catastrophic loss of life and assisting in the prevention of the pandemic, the advent of a vaccine would avoid a monthly loss of US$ 375 billion to the global economy. The best way to reduce the pandemic's public health and economic effect is for everyone to have access to a vaccine, particularly health care workers and those who are most vulnerable.
What COVAX has to offer
1. Doses for at least 20% of the population of each country
2. Vaccine portfolio that is diverse and well-managed
3. Vaccines are sent out as soon as they become eligible.
4. End the pandemic's acute period.
5. Rebuild the economy
The first doses of COVID-19 COVAX vaccine were sent out in Africa.
COVID-19 vaccine drives aimed at protecting healthcare workers started today in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.
The first vaccines will take place this week, with another 11 million COVAX doses scheduled to be administered over the next seven days.
Tomorrow is expected to see the announcement of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine allocation to 142 of COVAX's participating economies, which will be distributed between now and the end of May.
After its first foreign delivery to Ghana on February 24, 2021, the COVAX Facility has supplied life-saving vaccines to over 100 economies.
More than 38 million doses of vaccines from AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Serum Institute of India (SII) have been supplied so far, with 61 economies qualifying for vaccines under the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment.
Despite some delays in scheduled deliveries for March and April, COVAX intends to supply vaccines to all participating economies that have requested vaccines in the first half of 2021.
“With COVAX, the world has the best way to ensure the quickest, most inclusive rollout of safe and reliable vaccines to all at-risk people in every country on the planet,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Countries, manufacturers, and the international community must work together to prioritize vaccine supply through COVAX if we are to take advantage of this fantastic opportunity. It basically determines our collective future.”
The vision of granting countries access to COVID vaccines is becoming a reality in only a month and a half, thanks to the excellent work of our partners in the COVAX Facility,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “However, now is not the time to rejoice; now is the time to move on. We need to accelerate global deployment as variants emerge all over the world. To do so, governments and other stakeholders must take the required steps to expand supply, such as lowering intellectual property barriers, lifting direct and indirect restrictions on COVID-19 vaccine exports, and donating excess vaccine doses as soon as possible.”
The first COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Africa using COVAX doses started today in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, as the global rollout of COVAX vaccines accelerates. These are some of the first campaigns to use doses from the COVAX Facility's Gavi COVAX program.
The AMC is the process by which the COVAX Facility distributes donor-funded vaccines to low-income countries.
The campaigns in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire are in response to deliveries to both countries last week, with Ghana receiving 600,000 doses on February 24 and Côte d'Ivoire receiving 504,000 doses two days later. The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine was approved and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India in both countries (SII). On February 15, the World Health Organization approved COVISHIELD an Emergency Use Listing (EUL) for the vaccine.
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