The United States to Begin Distributing 500 Million Doses of Pfizer to 92 Lowest Income Countries This Month

The US government confirmed Thursday that the distribution of 500 million Pfizer vaccines to low-income countries will begin in August, to “fill the critical supply gaps that Covax faces” in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. .

“We have just arrived and we are exceeding 110 million doses shipped worldwide to nearly 60 countries and we keep moving forward. This month the first batch of the 500 million doses of Pfizer that the President (Joe Biden) announced we would give to Covax will be released.Gayle Smith, US State Department COVID Global Response Coordinator, said at a press conference Infobae attended.

“This is an extremely important contribution to achieving better access to vaccines for countries that are struggling to get enough doses. These are the 92 low- and middle-income economies supported by Covax and donor funding, as well as several other countriesExplained Jeremy Konyndyk, executive director of the USAID agency’s COVID-19 task force.

Smith also noted that donations from the U.S. government are delivered “without conditions”, as part of a humanitarian mission, making a distinction with the “vaccine diplomacy” deployed by China and Russia.

Regarding the Chinese regime, he commented that it is “unfortunate” that China does not finance the Covax program, promoted by the UN, although Beijing has delivered direct doses of the formulas developed in the country. “These are the most powerful tools we have to end a pandemic, a pandemic, which obviously concerns every country in the world, including our own. Our point of view is therefore that vaccines should be provided, especially by the main producing countries of the world, free of charge, without requirements, without conditions, and in such a way that we manage to cover everyone as quickly as possible ”.

The countries covered for the initiative Anticipated market engagement:

Low income: Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Liberia. Popular, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Yemen

Lower middle income: Angola, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, The Savior, Eswatini, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kiribati, Kirghiz, Laos, Lesotho, Mauritania, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, West Bank and Gaza, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Other countries eligible for the International Development Association of the World Bank: Dominica, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Kosovo, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tonga, Tuvalu.

As announced in June, 200 million will be delivered over the rest of 2021 and the other 300 million doses will be distributed in the first half of 2022.

The State Department official also spoke of the challenge posed by sectors that are not convinced by vaccines, sometimes out of mistrust. “It’s a real challenge. They need to understand how they work, so that we can do a lot of work in making science and facts available to the public. “

But he also stressed the need to fight disinformation campaigns: “I think there are people who are deliberately trying to manufacture vaccines against this. It’s a little harder to counter, but again our approach is to lay out the facts and the science to show that those of us who advocate for vaccines around the world get vaccinated and strongly recommend it. “

The coronavirus has killed at least 4.2 million people since it emerged in China in late 2019, and the United States, with more than 613,000 dead, is the nation in the world with the most deaths.

The availability of vaccines has caused the daily number of new cases to drop dramatically in many countries in recent months, but the highly contagious delta variant is behind the rise in infections.

Washington shipped 111.7 million doses, mainly through the Covax international distribution system, but also in collaboration with organizations such as the African Union or the Caribbean Community (Caricom). In Latin America, in addition to Colombia (6 million doses) Guatemala (4.5 million), Mexico (4.04), Argentina (3.5), Brazil, El Salvador and Honduras (3 million each) received doses, Paraguay, Peru and Ecuador (2 million each), Bolivia (1 million) and Costa Rica, Haiti, Panama and Uruguay (with 500,000 or more each).

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