The White House announced on Thursday that 75% of the 80 million doses of anti-Covid-19 vaccines promised by the US to foreign countries will be distributed through the Covax (Covid-19 Global Access to Vaccines) initiative.
“Today, the [US] Government announces the plan to share the 80 million US doses with the entire world,” the White House said in a press release, quoted by international agencies Associated Press and France-Presse.
Covax (Covid-19 Global Access to Vaccines), is an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gavi Alliance (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) and CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), which works to procure and then distribute covid-19 vaccines to the poorest countries on the planet.
“At least three-quarters of the doses administered will be shared through Covax,” the statement added. According to the White House, some 19 million doses will be delivered to the platform, with approximately six million destined for South and Central America, seven million for Asia and five million for Africa.
The doses mark a substantial – and immediate – boost to the slow-moving Covax effort, which has so far shared only 76 million doses with countries in need. The remaining six million will be directed by the White House to US allies and partners, including Mexico, Canada and the Republic of Korea, the West Bank and Gaza, Ukraine, Kosovo, Haiti, Georgia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Yemen, as well as to frontline UN workers.
The vaccine sharing plan comes at a time when demand for vaccines in the US has dropped significantly, after more than 63 per cent of adults in that country have already received at least one inoculation, but also because global inequalities in supply have become “more glaring”.
By 17 May, according to Reuters’ global vaccination data, nearly 48% of the US population had been vaccinated against covid-19. The White House had already declared its intention to share 80 million doses of vaccine with the world by the end of this June.
