Covax: Ghana receives first global delivery of free Covid-19 vaccines

"This delivery represents the start of what should be the largest supply and distribution of vaccines in history," welcomed a joint statement from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef.

Ghana received this Wednesday the first global delivery of vaccines funded by the Covax device, which aims to provide low-income countries with their first doses of anti-Covid vaccines, while rich countries are accused of undermining this device.

A plane carrying 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine from the manufacturer Serum Institute of India landed at 7:40 GMT at Accra airport.

These doses, shipped by Unicef ​​from Mumbai, "are part of the first wave of Covid vaccines to several low and middle income countries," the statement said.

"An unprecedented global effort"

“The Covax device plans to deliver nearly two billion doses of anti-covid vaccines this year.

It is an unprecedented global effort to ensure access to vaccines for all citizens, ”the statement added.

Ghana, an English-speaking country in West Africa, has recorded 80,759 cases of coronavirus, including 582 deaths.

But these figures are underestimated while the number of tests carried out remains low.

In all, the country is expected to receive 2.4 million doses, Covax said.

READ ALSO>

Vaccines and poor countries: investigation of Covax and the “somewhat naive” dream of the WHO

The press release specifies that health workers on the front line in the fight against the virus will be the first to be vaccinated.

The Covax system aims to provide anti-Covid vaccines to 20% of the population of nearly 200 participating countries and territories this year, but most importantly it has a funding mechanism that allows 92 low and middle income economies to access in precious doses.

It was set up to try to prevent rich countries from monopolizing all the doses of vaccine which are still manufactured in too small quantities to meet global demand.

Founded by the WHO, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) and the Coalition for Outbreak Preparedness Innovations (Cepi), Covax has reached deals with manufacturers for two billion doses in 2021 and has the potential to 'buy another billion.

This includes 1.1 billion doses from the Serum Institute of India (SII), which produces the AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines.

Support of 7.5 billion dollars

Initially, the WHO and Gavi believed they could start distributing vaccines to disadvantaged countries, which joined Covax, in January or February, but this deadline has been pushed back.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO, on Monday accused certain rich countries of "undermining" the Covax device.

“Some rich countries are currently approaching manufacturers to ensure access to additional doses of vaccine, which is having an effect on contracts with Covax,” he said.

“The number of doses allocated to Covax has been reduced because of this,” he added.

Last Friday, G7 leaders announced more than doubling their collective support for anti-Covid vaccination, to $ 7.5 billion, notably through the Covax program.

In addition to the United States, the European Union has doubled its contribution to one billion euros while Germany has released new funds.

While in some rich countries, vaccination campaigns began as early as the end of 2020, many poor countries have yet to receive any dose of vaccines, especially on the African continent.

Morning essentials newsletter

A tour of the news to start the day

Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters

The discovery of new variants, in South Africa and Great Britain, had also accelerated the rush for vaccines.

Since the start of the pandemic, Africa has officially remained one of the continents least affected by the virus, but most African countries are hit by a second wave which has forced them to return to strict health measures.

To help speed up the vaccination of the continent's 1.3 billion people, the African Union has said it has secured 270 million doses of the Covid vaccine to distribute this year.