A pharmacist is preparing a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the UCI Medical Center in Orange, California, USA, on Wednesday, December 16, 2020.
Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The global alliance that aims to provide poor nations with coronavirus vaccines said Friday that it has supply agreements to provide about 2 billion doses and could begin shipping them in the first quarter once approved.
There are 190 countries and territories participating in COVAX, which is co-led by the World Health Organization, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation. The facility said it was able to secure doses through additional supply agreements with AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
COVAX said it plans the first deliveries to begin in the first quarter of 2021 if the drugs are approved. There should be enough doses delivered during the first half of next year to protect workers from the health and social care of the participating economies, the alliance said. COVAX plans to deliver at least 1.3 billion doses to 92 countries, all with low and medium incomes, that will participate in the facility sometime next year.
“The arrival of vaccines gives us a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, said in a statement. “But we will really end the pandemic if we put an end to it everywhere at the same time, which means it is critical to vaccinate some people from all countries, rather than all people from some countries.”
Meanwhile, UNICEF said on Friday it could send up to 850 tonnes of Covid-19 vaccines a month to low- to middle-income countries next year. Commercial airlines will be able to deliver vaccines to almost all 92 countries participating in COVAX, UNICEF said in a statement.
The United Nations Children’s Fund is a United Nations agency that provides humanitarian aid to children around the world. UNICEF will work alongside the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to coordinate vaccine purchases and help administer doses, according to Gavi.
The humanitarian organization said the shots are likely to be sent mainly through existing passenger and cargo flights, although some charter flights or alternative transportation methods will be needed for hard-to-reach countries.
However, the world’s poorest countries still face a $ 133 million budget hole to distribute and store doses, UNICEF said. According to the organization, air deliveries would have an estimated cost of up to $ 70 million, which assessed air transportation capacity and global transportation routes.
Countries will face additional challenges once the doses arrive, UNICEF said.
Temperature requirements for vaccines being developed vary and will require cold chain supply lines, trained medical staff and more intense outreach efforts, Henrietta Fore, UNICEF’s executive director, said in a statement on Friday. .
“This is a huge, historic company,” Fore said in a statement. “The scale of the task is daunting and the stakes have never been higher, but we are ready to take it on.”
UNICEF said it will need $ 410 million to help countries administer vaccines and buy therapeutic drugs and diagnostic tools next year. Funding has been a problem for the COVAX facility, which faces a “very high” risk of failure due to lack of money, supply risks and complex contractual agreements, according to a Reuters report citing internal documents .