Covax in a sentence

Paraguay also agreed to direct-supply deals with drug companies and through the global COVAX initiative.

COVAX is a global collaboration involving over 180 countries working with vaccine manufacturers to ensure equitable distribution of the vaccines once approved.

Gavi chief Seth Berkley also told journalists on Friday that US drugmaker Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, who this week said their Covid-19 vaccine was 90% effective in initial trials, had expressed interest in supplying doses to COVAX.

Heads of Government expressed deep concern that despite being in the midst of a global pandemic, the per capita income criterion was still being used to determine how countries accessed financing from the COVAX Facility.

He said this is demonstrated in the COVAX facility, to which more than 180 member states have signed on.

More than 170 countries are participating in the initiative, called COVAX, which is working to ensure the equitable and fair global allocation of a potential vaccine.

Other shots are being developed worldwide and COVAX wants to expand its portfolio to include vaccines from other companies.

So far, Costa Rica has purchased Covax vaccines from the World Health Organization (WHO), from Pfizer and from AstraZeneca / Oxford.

South Africa’s participation in the vaccine procurement mechanism, COVAX, is finally – but the details of a vaccine rollout plan for the country are still lacking.

The companies have signed an agreement with Covax, the global inoculation scheme backed by the World Health Organisation, to supply 200 million doses.

The country also missed the first deadline to commit to Covax – an initiative co-lead by the World Health Organisation that aims to ensure developing countries get access to Covid-19 vaccines.

The European Commission on Monday confirmed its interest to participate in the COVAX facility and announced a contribution of 400 million euros ($478 million) to the initiative.

The other three channels are from a Chinese vaccine maker, Sinovac, American vaccine development company, Novavax, and the Gavi-COVAX global vaccine alliance.

The vaccines by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and the COVAX plan require two doses, whereas the CanSino product works with a single dose, according to the plan, which was presented at President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's regular news briefing.

The World Health Organization’s COVAX program is the main global scheme to vaccinate people in poor and middle income countries around the world against the coronavirus.

To date, Peru has initiated the signing of binding agreements with the COVAX Facility coalition and Pfizer, which have provided more information and certainty about the conditions that will be available at the time of procurement.

What the COVAX is about is making sure everybody on the planet will get access to the vaccines,” Harris said.

While funds have already been committed towards the COVAX Facility, WHO said more is urgently needed to continue to move the portfolio forward.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 167 countries have joined COVAX global vaccines facility, representing 70% of the world’s population, adding: “And the list is growing every day”.