New Zealand to donate 1.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to COVAX program

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Thursday that will donate over 1.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine – enough to protect 800,000 people – through the COVAX Vaccine Fair Trade Mechanism, whose objective is to guarantee inoculation in developing countries.

Ardern was the first leader to pledge doses at a ceremony this Thursday hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO)-linked Gavi Vaccine Alliance, which is raising investments to deliver vaccines to 92 countries. For their part, European countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have pledged new funds for the program.

Senior United Nations, finance and vaccine officials at the event called on wealthy countries to donate excess doses of COVID-19 vaccines to this international program to supply low- and middle-income countries, with the aim get the world economy back on track.

In the virtual act of the Gavi Alliance, officials also requested an additional $ 2,000 million for June, which would allow the purchase of up to 1,800 million doses in 2021. To date, COVAX has shipped over 38 million doses to 111 countries.

“Global supply is incredibly tight right now. But also we know that many high-income countries have requested more vaccines than they need “Gavi CEO Seth Berkley said. He asked to share the additional doses “as soon as possible to cover high-risk populations during this period of limited supply”.

“Many countries have money to spend on doses, but there are no quick deliveries. I would like to stress the importance that countries which have the possibility of having a surplus of vaccines deliver them as quickly as possible ”, World Bank President David Malpass said.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said some countries that signed up for COVAX had not received any doses, none had received enough and some were not receiving their second round vaccine allocations. time. “There is still a shocking and growing disparity in the global distribution of vaccines», He warned during the event.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore called on richer countries to invest generously in COVAX and donate excess doses, as it was the only way to end the pandemic and restore “the global economy. on rails”.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said an additional $ 22 billion is needed for the COVID-19 Tool Access Accelerator (ACT), which includes COVAX and also supports treatment and testing. “These numbers may seem high, but they are small compared to the global economic loss if this crisis continues. The new variants of the virus clearly show that we need to act faster, ”he said.

With information from Reuters

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