The United States is sending 840,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against Covid-19 to Uganda on Tuesday March 8, via an international mechanism specially intended for humanitarian crisis situations, a White House official announced.
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This will be the first delivery of Johnson & Johnson vaccines as part of the "
humanitarian buffer
", a stock of vaccines managed by the international mechanism Covax, and which should benefit vulnerable populations who have remained away from vaccination campaigns. governmental.
The United States will also build up a stock of 300,000 other doses of the same vaccine that can be distributed worldwide to humanitarian personnel or United Nations peacekeeping missions, according to the same source.
US President Joe Biden has repeatedly assured that his country will be "
the world's vaccine arsenal
".
His administration also reiterates that US vaccine donations are made without conditions, and not with the aim of pushing diplomatic or strategic objectives.
The international community, under the aegis of the Global Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), had decided in March 2021 to constitute a “
buffer stock
” of vaccines, which would be administered by international agencies or non-governmental organizations.
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This stock must benefit "
populations facing humanitarian crises
" and "
vulnerable groups (refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, internally displaced persons, migrants, minorities and people living in areas affected by conflicts
", explains the Vaccine Alliance on its website.