UNICEF chief urges rich countries to donate shots to COVAX

The world’s richest countries can afford to donate over 150 million vaccines to nations in need without hampering their own vaccination efforts, UNICEF said on monday. 

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore urged the G7 countries and the European Union to donate jabs to the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme to bridge the gap in supplies caused by the curbs imposed by Indian authorities as the country battles one of the deadliest coronavirus outbreaks. 

"Sharing immediately available excess doses is a minimum, essential and emergency stop-gap measure, and it is needed right now," Fore said, emphasizing that the move could help prevent vulnerable countries from becoming the next virus hotspot.

The UN agency is responsible for supplying vaccines through COVAX, which is run jointly by the WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance. The program relies heavily on the relatively low-cost AstraZeneca jab. However, supplies have been severely restricted after India curbed the export of the vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute amid massive shortages in the South Asian country. 

Vaccine inequity poses challenges

Fore cited research from scientific information and analytics company Airfinity to state that G7 countries and the EU could donate nearly 153 million doses if they shared just 20% of their available supply over the next three months.

"And they could do this while still fulfilling their vaccination commitments to their own populations," she added.

The UK is set to host a G7 summit next month. By then, COVAX will find itself 190 million doses short of its planned target.

Last week, the head of the World Health Organization denounced vaccine inequity, urging countries to donate vaccines instead of administering them to children, who are believed to be less vulnerable to the virus.

see/sri (Reuters, AFP)