SPIKE IN VACCINE DONATIONS
After initial hiccups faced by vaccine makers due to raw material shortage early this year, there’s nowa huge ramping up of vaccine production. Donations are up, too, worldwide.
CHINA
China alone has promised to deliver 2 billion doses to the rest of the world by the year-end. It has already donated 304.9 million shots to Asia-Pacific countries and 180.9 million doses to Latin America.
INDIA
India, for its part, is ramping up production and vaccinations. By October, India’s health minister said the subcontinent will have enough capacity to produce 300 million shots per month. They will also resume donations after halting them in April due to production glitches and spike in cases in. India has donated 60+ million vaccines to neighbours.
US, UK, CANADA
The US, for its part, has administered 389 million vaccines so far. The White House also vowed this month to donate 1 billion doses to the less-developed. Some 93.4 million doses had been administered in the UK and 55.7 million in Canada. The UK has already donated approximately 5 million vaccine doses to COVAX. It is also donating another 9 million AstraZeneca shots to less developed countries. Canada has promised to donate 40 million vaccine doses to developing-world countries through the COVAX programme.
EUROPEAN UNION
The EU, meanwhile, has promised to bump up donations to the poor countries to 450 million by mid-2022).
FRANCE
On Saturday, September 25, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to double COVID vaccine doses for poorer countries. “France pledges to double the number of doses it is giving. We will pass from 60 million to 120 million doses offered.”
UAE
The UAE, which makes the HayatVax Covid-19 vaccine, has donated several million doses to other countries: 1 million to Malaysia, 500,000 to Indonesia, 500,000 to Tunisia, 100,000 to the Philippines, 40,000 to Palestine, 50,000 to Seychelles, among others. Hayat is the first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine in the region to be manufactured by a joint venture between Abu Dhabi’s G42 and Sinopharm.