ETHIOPIA – Ethiopia has announced the arrival of additional 840,060 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States through COVAX, a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The batch arrived at the Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa via COVAX on March 1st 2022 bringing the number of vaccine doses provided to Ethiopia by the US to nearly 7 million doses since July 2021.

In November 2021, the US donated further 1,552,590 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to Ethiopia through COVAX to support the fight against the pandemic.

It is the largest donation of vaccine doses from a single country to Ethiopia in efforts to contain the COVID-19 virus.

The US Embassy in Ethiopia reaffirmed its commitment to share COVID-19 vaccine doses in a safe and equitable manner with the singular objective of saving Ethiopian lives.

Moreover, the vaccine donation supports the Ethiopian Ministry of Health’s second vaccine campaign launched on February 14th 2022.

Safe and effective vaccines are the best tool to end the pandemic thus the United States is committed to purchasing and donating 1.1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses worldwide.

The United States has so far delivered more than 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to more than 110 countries in its commitment to bringing urgency to international vaccination efforts.

The African Union and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are partnering with the US to deliver COVID-19 vaccine doses across the continent through the COVAX initiative via their established logistical channels.

2.2 million Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Ethiopia

Meanwhile, the Chinese government recently donated an additional 2.2 million doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines to Ethiopia to boost the nation’s vaccination efforts.

China has so far donated around 7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Ethiopia which is crucial to the Ethiopian government’s efforts to vaccinate its people against COVID-19 in an effort to combat the widespread virus.

“The donation of 2.2 million Sinopharm vaccines will help bring vaccine access to our communities and protect them from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Lia Tadesse, Ethiopian Minister of Health.

The Ethiopian health minister stressed that the support provided by China is not only limited to the COVID-19 vaccine but also aid with regards to prevention, treatment, detection and testing.

Greece donates 1,346,400 COVID-19 vaccines to Ethiopia

In more recent developments, Greece donated 1,346,400 coronavirus vaccines to Ethiopia through a team of European Union (EU) member states.

These new deliveries come in addition to an earlier donation by EU member states of more than 10.5 million vaccine doses in support of Ethiopia’s efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the last few days, Ethiopia has received more than 13 million Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccines through the COVAX mechanism donated by France, Finland, Denmark, Greece, Italy and Sweden.

EU member states have engaged under the framework of the COVAX Facility with an aim to coordinate equitable access and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.

The vaccine donations contribute to the important efforts of the Ethiopian Ministry of Health to uptake the vaccination campaign throughout the country and reach its objective of 70% of the population vaccinated by the end of 2022.

Liked this article? Sign up to receive our regular email newsletters, focused on Africa and World’s healthcare industry, directly into your inbox. SUBSCRIBE HERE