Vaccine Donations Bolster COVAX Supplies

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director, Dr. Carissa Etienne, says coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine donations have enabled the COVAX Facility to substantially expand allocation of supplies to underserved countries in the region.

These include provisions of 60 million doses from the United States (US) and 11 million from Japan, which, Dr. Etienne pointed out, will contribute significantly to the distribution of 143 million doses by COVAX.

She was speaking during PAHO’s COVID-19 digital briefing on Wednesday (July 7).

Dr. Etienne advised that the 24 million vaccine doses deployed by COVAX to the region, to date, have been “quickly put to use”, adding that “other countries are eager for the additional allocations to [be shipped] as soon as supplies are available”.

“Our [member] countries know how to deploy vaccines and are ready, but they need more doses… and they need them now,” she noted.

Dr. Etienne again encouraged nations with surplus vaccines to share them with countries in the Americas that are struggling.

She indicated that the call is “starting to resonate” as evidenced by Mexico’s donation to Jamaica and several Central American countries.

Jamaica received a shipment of 65,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, which arrived on June 30.

Mexico’s provision is in addition to vaccines being deployed by the US, which, Dr. Etienne said, has pledged to share at least 20 million doses with Latin American and Caribbean countries as part of overall efforts to ease the global vaccine shortage.

She further advised that El Salvador, which is the latest regional country to benefit from the US’ gesture, received 1.5 million doses earlier this week via COVAX, while pointing out that “others are receiving additional doses bilaterally”.

“PAHO is leading the logistics for the delivery of the COVAX doses and we have been working with the US government, the COVAX Facility and recipient countries to make sure that all requirements are met and that vaccines can quickly and safely arrive at their destinations,” Dr. Etienne said.