7/23/2023 0 Comments Covax aim trainer ps4Unfortunately, we’re not currently seeing too many high-income countries willing to share”. Gandhi, “because it will take some legal, administrative and operational gymnastics to get them to where they’re needed. “We’re calling on these countries to share their excess doses, and engage with COVAX and UNICEF as soon as possible”, says Mr. The current ‘me first’ approach will ultimately cost more, in terms of lives Diane Abad-Vergara, COVAX communication focal point, WHO At the same time, richer countries may find themselves with an over-supply of doses. 4) Richer countries should share excess dosesĬOVAX is finding itself in competition with individual countries doing direct deals with pharmaceutical companies, putting extra pressure on the available supply of COVID-19 vaccines. Mongolia started vaccinating people in March with the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine provided through the COVAX facility. ![]() UNICEF estimates that an additional $2 billion is needed to help the poorest 92 countries to pay for essentials such as fridges, health worker training, expenses for vaccinators, and fuel for the refrigerated delivery trucks, and is calling on donors to make $510m of this available immediately as part of a humanitarian appeal to address urgent needs. However, funding for the delivery of those vaccines is more problematic. The faster that this funding target is achieved, the faster that vaccines can get into people’s arms.”Ĭontributions from several countries, particularly the EU, the UK and the US have gone a long way to closing the vaccine funding gap. “To continue providing vaccines to its 190 members, COVAX needs at least $3.2 billion in 2021. “Funding is a perennial concern, even in pandemic response”, says Ms. One way to speed up the vaccine rollout, and the delivery from urban warehouses to remote areas is, quite simply, cash. 3) More funding is needed to help rollout in the poorest countries Gandhi, “but, in the short term, the concentration of doses in cities at least means that the vaccination of health and other frontline workers in urban areas, where the higher population density puts them at a higher risk of exposure, is being prioritized”. ![]() “We want to ensure that no-one misses out”, says Mr. This means that, in many poorer countries, most doses are being distributed in large urban centres”. “Ghana, the first country to receive COVAX doses, has had a good record of distributing doses”, says Gian Gandhi, UNICEF’s global COVAX coordinator, “but other countries, such as those in Francophone West Africa, have found it difficult to muster the resources needed to divide up doses and distribute them throughout their territory to the towns and villages where they’re needed. Whilst all of the countries that are part of COVAX have the infrastructure needed to get pallets of vaccines off cargo planes and into refrigerated warehouses, the next steps can be more complicated. Gian Gandhi, COVAX Coordinator for the UNICEF Supply Division., by © UNICEF/John McIlwaine "Expanding production globally would make poor countries less dependent on donations from rich ones”. “WHO supports countries in their efforts to acquire and sustain vaccine production technology and capacity”, says Diane Abad-Vergara, COVAX communications lead for the agency, “through such initiatives as the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network, and helps them to build additional manufacturing bases - especially in Africa, Asia, and Latin America - which will be essential to meeting ongoing demand for COVID-19 booster shots and future vaccines. Because of this, export bans or controls on any of these products can cause major disruptions to vaccine rollouts.īecause of the many ways in which export controls can limit supply, poorer countries will have a much better chance of protecting their citizens if they are able to manufacture vaccines themselves. From the ingredients needed to produce the vaccine, to the glass and plastic stoppers and tubes, to the syringes. Getting doses into people’s arms requires a complex global supply chain. ![]() Several countries also placed export controls on vaccines, prompting WHO to warn against “vaccine nationalism”, which encourages hoarding, and has the effect of pushing prices up and ultimately prolonging the pandemic, the restrictions needed to contain it, and human and economic suffering. Diane Abad-Vergara, WHO Communications Officer for COVAX and COVID-19 vaccines, by WHO
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