PAHO’s vaccine delivery to Caribbean, Latin America tops 100 million

The number of doses of COVID-19 vaccines delivered by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) to Latin America and the Caribbean reached 100 million as of Tuesday, though mobilisation of the organisation’s Revolving Fund – the procurement and delivery partner of COVAX in the region.
The latest batch of vaccines includes 151,200 doses of Moderna vaccine as part of the COVAX support to Haiti, and 1,511,640 doses of Pfizer vaccines donated by Spain.
PAHO Director, Dr Carissa F Etienne said, “The 100 million doses mark a significant milestone. Thanks to close coordination between COVAX and our Revolving Fund, and the generous support of partners that helped our region secure doses when supply was limited, our countries are better placed to get shots into arms and protect their populations, including the most vulnerable.”
The PAHO Revolving Fund is the designated procurement agency for COVAX in the Americas. Leveraging over four decades of experience in vaccine procurement, the Revolving Fund has now supplied 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to 33 countries. Approximately 30 per cent of these were donated by the United States of America, Canada, Spain, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
PAHO coordinated deliveries with other COVAX partners, such as the United Nations (UNICEF), CEPI, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Gavi, and supported international logistics to ensure the vaccines arrive in countries safely and in the shortest possible time.
To complement efforts by COVAX, in August 2021 PAHO also launched an initiative for additional access to COVID-19 vaccines in the region by entering into Long Term Agreements with three manufacturers.
While 63 per cent of people in Latin America and the Caribbean have now been vaccinated against COVID-19, coverage remains uneven, with 14 countries and territories yet to immunise even 40 per cent of their populations. Haiti remains at the bottom of the list with vaccine coverage less than 1.2 per cent.
Guyana is included in ten countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that are receiving vaccines at no cost through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) and the first AMC country in the Caribbean to receive these vaccines. The mechanism aims to secure 1.3 billion doses for 92 low and middle-income countries by the end of the year. Vaccine flights have been taking off almost every day and to date, the EU has given over €2.2 billion in contribution – making it the biggest donor to date. (G12)