The WHO Africa Regional Director Dr. Matshidiso Moeti says the malaria vaccine just introduced recently in 2019 has been well accepted in a short time that demand for it remained high even in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
GAVI’s CEO Seth Berkley told journalists in a news conference that they have so far delivered up to 1.4billion doses of vaccines to countries in need, have up to 500million doses allocated and enough in stock for even those that want a specific choice of vaccine.
In September 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) set an ambitious global target when the UN health agency called for 70 per cent of the global population to be vaccinated by mid-2022. At that point, just over three per cent of people in low-income countries had been vaccinated with at least one dose, compared to 60.18 per cent in high-income countries.
In their latest statement, the global vaccines entity says once the new money is found, they plan to use 3.7 billion dollars to fund a 600 million dose Pandemic Vaccine Pool under the COVAX facility.
“ Research into boosters remains an essential part of the pandemic response because if protection from existing Covid-19 vaccines does eventually start to wane or new variants emerge that are more resistant to vaccines, then boosters could potentially offer enhanced protection” he said but added that both these scenarios will become self-fulfilling prophecies if countries with high COVID-19 vaccine coverage start making boosters available now, and to all citizens, because it will delay efforts to protect more people.
Revealing that they are working to secure additional sourcing of vaccines in the form of dose-sharing from higher-income countries, the facility said in a statement that they have so far made supplies to100 countries, 42 days after they supplied their very first batches to Ghana in late February.
Dr Richard Mihigo, Immunization and Vaccine Development programme Manager at the WHO Regional Office for Africa told a press conference last evening that the doses will cover 20 per cent of those in need prioritizing healthcare workers but will later expand to cover the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions.
Uganda's first-ever pledge to be given in instalments until 2025, was announced at a Global Vaccines Summit attended by heads of governments and pharmaceutical company bosses via Zoom last evening. Collectively, the governments pledged USD 8.8 billion in funding for the vaccine programmes.
The leaders made the call during the Global Vaccine Summit that begun today in London.
According to the leaders, all vaccines should be made available for all countries equally without considering the country of origin where the vaccines are made.
The virtual launch of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator has seen participation from all corners of the planet to boost commitment and support for the production of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines to save lives from an unprecedented enemy. Heads of State in attendance included the Presidents of France, South Africa, Costa Rica, Spain and Rwanda.
The Senate agreed that Chancellor Merkel is an outstanding leader who has tremendously influenced society including global health and health security and that she has exceptionally contributed to humanity, a recommendation that has been upheld and approved by the Council today.
