First coronavirus vaccines under Covax Facility delivered to Ghana

Name: First Covax delivery completed as Ghana receives 600,000 doses of vaccine under WHO-led scheme
Uploaded: 2021-02-25T04:31:01.000Z
Duration: 1 min 27 s
Description: First Covax delivery completed as Ghana receives 600,000 doses of vaccine under WHO-led scheme

The largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history started with the arrival of 600,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses in the West African country

The initiative aims to deliver 2 billion shots this year, but has missed its goal of beginning vaccinations in poor countries at the same time as rich ones

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The first shipment of Covid-19 vaccines distributed by the Covax Facility arrive at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana. Photo: AP

Associated Press

Published: 12:31pm, 25 Feb 2021Updated: 1:13pm, 25 Feb 2021

Ghana received the world’s first delivery of coronavirus vaccines from the United Nations-backed Covax Facility initiative on Wednesday – the long-awaited start for a programme that has so far fallen short of hopes that it would ensure shots were given quickly to the world’s most vulnerable people.

The arrival of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the West African country marks the beginning of the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history, according to the World Health Organization and Unicef. It is a linchpin of efforts to bring the Covid-19 pandemic to an end and has been hailed as the first time the world has delivered a highly sought-after vaccine to poor countries during an ongoing outbreak.

“Today marks the historic moment for which we have been planning and working so hard. With the first shipment of doses, we can make good on the promise of the Covax Facility to ensure people from less wealthy countries are not left behind in the race for life-saving vaccines,” said Henrietta Fore, executive director of Unicef, which delivered the vaccines.

But the initiative, formed to ensure fair access to vaccines by low- and middle-income countries, has been hampered by the severely limited global supply of doses and logistical problems. Although it aims to deliver 2 billion shots this year, it currently has legally binding agreements only for several hundred million shots.

It already missed its own goal of beginning vaccinations in poor countries at the same time immunisation were rolled out in rich ones. The overall campaign has been extremely uneven: 80 per cent of the 210 million doses administered worldwide thus far were given in just 10 countries, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this week.

That delay led numerous poorer countries to rush to sign their own deals, potentially undermining the Covax Facility’s efforts to get shots to the neediest people.

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First Covax delivery completed as Ghana receives 600,000 doses of vaccine under WHO-led scheme

And some countries cannot afford to go it alone.