Sweden to donate 1M COVID-19 vaccines to COVAX facility
Juanique Tennant / Our Today
The World Health Organization is today (May 3) applauding the Government of Sweden for its decision to donate one million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to its COVAX facility.
According to the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus “Sweden’s announcement that it will share 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines with COVAX is a superb gesture that must be replicated urgently, and repeatedly, by governments around the world to accelerate the equitable rollout of vaccines globally”.
The welcome vaccine donation comes, as the COVAX facility expresses an urgent need for 20 million doses during the second quarter of 2021 to compensate for supply interruptions triggered by increased demands for vaccines in India where COVAX’s main supplier of the AstraZeneca product is based.
Referencing Sweden’s donation, Tedros stated that their “support will ensure that people in vulnerable countries, especially, in Africa, will be able to receive their second doses through the COVAX initiative”.
The World Health Organization and its partners are calling on other countries, to make donations from their vaccine stocks to boost vaccine supplies to COVAX to deepen its vaccination coverage in low-income countries and to ensure populations in such places receive much-needed second doses.
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