New Zealand to donate vaccines to COVAX facility
Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern yesterday announced that her country will be donating close to a million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the COVAX facility.
Ardern made the announcement at an event held by the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, noting that New Zealand will be donating vaccines to inoculate 800,000 people.
“Dose sharing can help us make the best use of available vaccines, and the COVAX Facility provides an efficient and equitable way to share doses with others,” Ardern said.
European countries in attendance including Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden also pledged contributions to the facility.
Several Caribbean nations are beneficiaries of the COVAX dose-sharing facility, which aims to facilitate the equal distribution of vaccines.
COVAX mainly distributes the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed by the Serum Institute India, which is cheaper to make and easier to store and distribute than most of the others.
The facility also has access to a small number of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.