The ambitious global platform for equal access to vaccines against covid-19, Mecanismo Covax, partially fulfilled its promise to supply the number of doses necessary to vaccinate during this year, to 20% of the population of the ten poorest countries in America : Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Dominica, Bolivia, Guyana and Haiti.
According to a data analysis, carried out by CONFIDENTIAL, only the first six of these countries received enough doses from the Covax Mechanism to vaccinate a little more than 20% of their population. Meanwhile, the last four did not reach the goal. However, the one that received the fewest vaccines was Haiti.
In total, the mechanism managed to send, until December 13, 17 283 330 doses of five types of vaccines: Covishield / AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Sinopharm, Moderna and Janssen. However, 14 million of these doses were donated by other countries allied to Covax, due to the limitations of access to vaccines that the mechanism suffered during the first half of this year, among these stands out the suspension of export of vaccines from the largest producer of Biologicals: The Serum Institute of India.
Likewise, during the first months of this year, the Mechanism had limitations in access to vaccines due to the grabbing of the richest countries, as denounced repeatedly by the World Health Organization (WHO). This triggered the announcement last September that this year they will only achieve 70% of their goal of delivering 2 billion doses worldwide.
According to the Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, around 80% of the more than 5,000 billion doses of vaccines administered in the world have been “for high-income and upper-middle-income countries.”
Nicaragua received doses to vaccinate 27% of its population
The three countries that received the most donations of vaccines from the Covax Mechanism were: El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. However, most doses reached these countries in the second half of the year and this mainly affected Nicaragua because the Government of Daniel Ortega did not prioritize the purchase of vaccines. Which triggered the country to remain in the queue of the immunization of the entire continent.
According to the data that was analyzed by CONFIDENTIAL, directly from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), throughout the year Nicaragua received three batches: one with 135,000 doses of Covishield in March, another with 138,000 doses of Sinopharm in September, and a final batch with 134,400 doses of AstraZeneca in November. Meanwhile, the donation given by other countries -which was channeled by the Covax Mechanism- amounts to 3 697 660, Spain being the main supplier.
The main limitation of the Covax Mechanism with Nicaragua occurred because they assigned a donation of 2.4 million doses of the Covishield vaccine, produced in India; However, in March, this Asian country suspended the export of these for use in its own population that was hit by the delta variant and it was until the end of July, three months after the shipment of the first batch, that the donation of vaccines was resumed. , but they were doses sent by other countries: Canada, Spain, the United States, Switzerland and France.
Honduras received a total of 4.4 million doses of three types of vaccines: AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Pfizer. However, of this amount only 637,740 were sent directly by the Covax Mechanism, the rest was donated mainly by the United States (USA).
The same happened with El Salvador, of the 3.6 million vaccines it received, 3.1 million were donated by the United States and only 417,480 were directly from PAHO. However, this country prioritized the purchase of vaccines by other means and this caused that by December 2021 it will reach a complete vaccination coverage of 62.60%, one of the highest in the continent.
Given this, the authorities of that nation announced on December 1 that they will give up their place within Covax, in solidarity with the countries with less access to vaccines. “Thank God, we have more than enough (vaccine doses) and there are other countries that need them”, said the president, Nayib Bukele.
The islands that did not receive vaccines in the second semester
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Saint Lucia received the amount of doses necessary to cover 20% of their population, which is small as they are islands. These vaccines arrived between April and May, but far from setting a positive precedent left them stagnant.
These countries did not receive vaccines from the Covax Mechanism for the rest of the year and since then, the coverage percentages have not advanced much. According to PAHO data, the coverage of the inoculated population is between 21.6% and 30.8%. Well below the goal of 40% that the WHO set to end this year.
Bolivia received 4,477,760 from AstraZeneca, Janseen, Pfizer. However, with this number of doses it only manages to vaccinate, with both doses, 18.9% of its population. Meanwhile, Guyana received 262,740 doses of AstraZeneca and Pfizer that allowed it to inoculate 16.6% of its inhabitants.
However, the country that lags the most is in Haiti with 600 100 doses of Moderna, which will vaccinate 2.6% of its population. This country began vaccination against covid-19 until mid-July because during this year it has gone from political crises to earthquakes.
Four of the poor countries will not be able to vaccinate 40% of their inhabitants
PAHO announced this week that there are six countries on the continent that will not be able to vaccinate 40% of their population against covid-19. Four of these are part of the group of ten nations that are receiving free vaccines from the Covax Mechanism: Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and Grenada. The other two countries that will not reach the goal are Guatemala and Jamaica.
According to official vaccination data until December 8, 2021, Grenada has 30.8% coverage, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 21.63%, Saint Lucia 25.63% and Haiti just 0.58%.
“At the current rate, it is possible that up to six countries will not meet the 40% goal by the end of the year,” said PAHO Director Carissa Etienne.
The country that has already exceeded the vaccination goal is El Salvador. Meanwhile, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominica, Bolivia and Guyana are between 35.7% and 38.6% coverage.
