COVAX Commences Delivering 2 Billion COVID-19 Vaccines

The African country of Ghana became the first country outside India to receive COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility.

On February 23, COVAX shipped 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/ Oxford COVID-19 vaccine. These AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines were licensed to Serum Institute of India, and are known as ‘CoviShield.’

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, formerly known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, is made from a virus (ChAdOx1), a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus).

This vaccine delivery is part of a first wave of an precedented effort by COVAX to provide at least 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021.

COVAX is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), working in partnership with UNICEF as well as the World Bank, organizations, manufacturers, and others.

"We will not end the pandemic anywhere unless we end it everywhere," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, in a WHO press statement.

"We still have a lot of work to do with governments and manufacturers to ensure that vaccination of health workers and older people is underway in all countries.”

Over the past several months, COVAX partners have been supporting governments and partners, particularly for AMC-eligible participants, in readiness efforts, in preparation for this moment.

Building on the interim distribution forecast published earlier this month, final information on the first round allocations, covering most Facility participants, is expected to be communicated in the coming days.

COVAX has built a diverse portfolio of vaccines suitable for a range of settings and populations and is on track to meet its goal of delivering at least 2 billion doses of vaccine to participating countries around the globe in 2021.

PrecisionVaccinations publishes research-based news.