COVAX Supplies 1 Billion Doses of COVID-19 Vaccines... "Far Below Target Volume"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The supply volume of the COVID-19 vaccine joint procurement project 'COVAX,' led by the World Health Organization (WHO), has exceeded 1 billion doses.

According to AFP on the 15th (local time), COVAX announced that it has supplied 1 billion doses of vaccines since it first supplied vaccine doses to Ghana in February last year.

Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance participating in COVAX, said, "We are proud that 90% of COVAX's supply volume has been provided to low- and middle-income countries using fully prepaid funds," adding, "There is still a long way to go to solve vaccine inequality and protect everyone."

However, AFP reported that this figure falls far short of COVAX's original goal of supplying 2 billion doses by the end of last year. Some countries are trying to purchase and stockpile vaccines at higher prices, causing difficulties for COVAX in securing supply volumes. There are also concerns that vaccine inequality could worsen as countries respond to the Omicron COVID-19 variant by administering additional vaccine doses (booster shots).

On the 13th, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out, "More than 9.4 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, but over 85% of the African population has never received a single vaccine dose."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.