The country will access the benefit along with Bolivia and two other South American nations. The Bolivian president confirmed that his country will receive the first doses in February.
Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and El Salvador will be the first countries to receive the vaccine against COVID-19, free of charge and under the COVAX mechanism, according to the United Nations on Saturday.
The information center of the organization in Bolivia specified, through a statement, that the three South American nations and the one in Central America were selected to be in the first round of distribution within the aforementioned mechanism.
The letter said Bolivia would receive “nearly one million vaccines as donations, 92,430 doses of Pfizer and 900,000 doses of AstraZeneca,” but did not specify how many doses were initially allocated to the other three nations.
“This will be the first batch that the country will receive until the end of the number of doses to cover 20% of the Bolivian population,” says the entity when celebrating the good news for Bolivians.
As he explains, the COVAX mechanism is a global alliance for the acquisition and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, led by the Coalition for Innovation in Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI), Gavi and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) / World Health Organization. .
The above-mentioned alliance works in partnership with vaccine manufacturers, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, civil society organizations, among others.
According to the United Nations Intelligence Center in Bolivia, the COVAX mechanism gave countries on January 6 the opportunity to express their interest in accessing a limited initial volume of an ultra-cold chain vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech, and Bolivia first came forward to present its proposal along with 72 other supporters.
Bolivia will receive through COVAX comprehensive technical and financial cooperation for its Extended Immunization Program (EPI) to strengthen the cold chain needed for vaccine management; will train their medical staff in its use and maintenance; as well as information, communication and social mobilization actions to promote the importance of the vaccine.
Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora, in a message to the population, reported that the first batch of vaccines against COVID-19 through the COVAX mechanism will be received in February.
“Today I can tell you that I received the answer to the work done, which was extremely positive. In February, we will receive almost one million vaccines, “he said.
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