COVAX crosses milestone of 500 million donated doses shipped to 105 countries

Over half a billion COVID-19 vaccines donated by high-income countries have now been shipped to COVAX participating economies. The milestone, which was reached nine months after the first dose of donations in April 2021 has seen the participation of 31 donors and benefited 105 countries.

Donations gained speed at a time when global supply was severely constrained, and have played a major role in COVAX’s effort to ensure all countries have access to life-saving vaccines, accounting for nearly half of the 1.1 billion doses now delivered to participating economies (over 1 billion of those doses have gone to lower-income economies eligible for vaccines through the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment or Gavi COVAX AMC). Over 95% of the donated doses have been shipped to lower-income economies eligible for vaccines through the Gavi COVAX AMC, with over 45% shipped to the African continent. The design and operationalization of the COVAX dose sharing mechanism are being supported by a contribution of CAD 5 million from Canada.

Without dose donations, balanced across 4 suppliers, hundreds of millions of people would still be waiting for their first COVID-19 vaccination. As COVAX seeks to help all countries meet their national vaccination objectives in 2022 through tailored support, donations will continue to play an important role in the efforts.

“The COVAX dose donation program has played an important role in helping us reach over 1.1 billion doses delivered to 144 countries. We now celebrate the milestone of 500 million donated doses shipped,” said Prof. José Manuel Barroso, Board Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “We thank Team Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, New Zealand, and Hong Kong SAR, China for supporting COVAX’s goal of equitable access to life-saving COVID-19 vaccines.”