More Regional Countries Receiving Vaccines Through COVAX

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director, Dr. Carissa Etienne, says the delivery of vaccines to the region through the Global Access (COVAX) Facility is increasing.

Speaking during PAHO’s COVID-19 digital briefing on Wednesday (March 17), Dr. Etienne said that nearly 400,000 vaccines, procured through COVAX, have been delivered to countries through the regional body’s Revolving Fund Facility since last week.

These include an initial 14,400 AstraZeneca vaccines allocated to Jamaica, which arrived on Monday (March 15).

Dr. Etienne indicated that PAHO has, so far, placed orders for 3.4 million vaccines and advised that nearly 728,000 doses will be delivered to five countries over the next several days.

“Next week, we expect that many countries in the Caribbean will start to see the first COVAX shipments arriving on their shores,” she noted.

The Director assured that PAHO is working through the Fund to ensure that countries know the quantity of doses they will be receiving and the delivery timelines each month, “so that they can organise their immunisation campaigns”.

“Our goal is to ensure that every country in our region that is participating in COVAX receives their first shipment before World Health Day 2021 [on] April 7,” she noted.

Dr. Etienne said with COVID-19 vaccinations under way throughout the region, “we are at the beginning of the end of this pandemic”.

PAHO data indicate that nearly 130 million COVID-19 vaccinations have been administered across the Americas, 28 million of which have taken place in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“We are happy that vaccines [especially] through COVAX, are being delivered,” she said, assuring that shipments “will become more regular as more doses are available to COVAX in the next few months.”