Home » Coronavirus vaccines, the public-private alliance to bring doses to Africa and Asia

Coronavirus vaccines, the public-private alliance to bring doses to Africa and Asia

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At the beginning of March, the number of daily vaccinations against covid-19 worldwide was about 6 million. At that rate, according to some estimates, it would take about 5 and a half years to administer a double dose of the vaccine to 75% of the world‘s population. Since then the trend has been growing strongly, albeit with an irregular trend. According to the monitoring of www.ourworldindata.org, March 14 reached a peak of 16.61 million doses administered, while on March 20 the figure was 13.2 million.

Slow vaccination rates

However, the acceleration of a small number of countries determines the global vaccine race: the United States and the United Kingdom, above all, China, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Russia (even if the data are not always very accurate ). While other areas of the planet and in particular many “fragile” countries are decidedly less virtuous. The map of Africa stands out for example for very low percentages of the vaccinated population and in many cases the data are totally absent.

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Cuba, the “Abdala” vaccine in the final phase of the trials

La partnership

The initiative that is involved is also born from these numbers Ups Foundation and Ups Healthcare to implement a global supply chain delivery program for Covid-19 vaccines, in partnership with Covax (international program aiming at equal access to anti-covid vaccines), Gavi (a cooperation of public and private entities with the aim of improving access to immunization for the human population in poor countries), Care (US humanitarian organization) and some countries of Africa, Asia, South America and Europe itself. “Our work – said Scott Price, President of UPS International – focuses on countries with limited resources and insufficient supply chains and infrastructures”.

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A precious “commodity”

The initiative provides for an initial support of over 3 million dollars in contributions allocated by the UPS Foundation, of these 2 million dollars are destined for Gavi, which in turn adds the same amount, bringing the total to 4 million dollars. With an additional $ 1 million in aid in kind, the UPS Foundation will provide transportation solutions, also providing cold chain capabilities in the form of freezers and technical expertise for partners who need them.
“Given the limited supplies in the near future, covid-19 vaccines are probably the most valuable commodity this year,” said Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi. “Every single dose is extremely important and it is crucial that our partner countries have the support and tools they need to deliver vaccines effectively and efficiently to those who need them.”

Drones are also in the field

In parallel, Ups Foundation supports the initiative “Fast + Fair”By Care, which focuses on equitable distribution of vaccines to at-risk groups, including health workers, caregivers and refugees, in a group of countries including Bangladesh, Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and South Sudan. “We are implementing this project as it is time to join our efforts around the world,” said Nikki Clifton, president of the Foundation.
These public-private efforts, such as the one in Ghana – where an agreement between several partners and the government is implementing a distribution of aid and vaccines also via drones -, they aim to ensure that anti-covid vaccines begin to flow rapidly in countries that desperately need them. In the first dose distribution cycle, the goal of the initiative is to reach over 10 million people.

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