RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The first Spanish donation of 650,000 vaccines from AstraZeneca will be delivered this week to Peru, Paraguay, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, the government said in a press release.
More than 100,000 doses have already been delivered to Peru, while Paraguay and Guatemala have received more than 200,000 vaccines.
Today, Nicaragua is expected to receive about 98,000 doses. These donations are part of the agreement reached between AstraZeneca, Covax, and Spain. This plan calls for shipments to continue gradually to other countries in the region as the trial progresses.
The distribution of doses destined for Latin America and the Caribbean will be based on the epidemiological needs of countries in the region, as determined by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
The Spanish government has pledged to donate 22.5 million doses of the vaccines approved in the European Union and used in Spain. At least 7.5 million of these will go to Latin American countries.
The Covax Mechanism aims to provide equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines in all countries around the world. To date, more than 102 million doses of vaccine have been distributed in 135 countries. The Mechanism expects that 20% of the population in the 190 countries that are members of the Mechanism will have been vaccinated by the end of the year.
Spain makes these vaccine donations in close coordination with the European Union (EU) and its member states through Team Europe, which has provided €2.47 billion to Covax to date, committing more than 500 million doses.
AstraZeneca is a pharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The company ended 2020 with sales of US$35.741 billion, up from US$32.321 billion a year earlier.