COVAX: Latin American Countries Ask to Extend Deadline to Join WHO Vaccine Plan

By M.G. Alison. First Posted: Sep 19, 2020 07:42 AM EDT

Brazil is among Latin American countries asking for more time to participate in the World Health Organization's (WHO) global vaccine allocation plan for COVID-19, otherwise known as COVAX.

Countries wanting to participate in the program have until midnight of Friday, September 18, to formalize their commitment to the COVAX facility.

COVAX is a global initiative aimed at coordinating with vaccine manufacturers, so countries worldwide will have equitable access to safe and effective vaccines that have been approved and licensed already.

COVAX, which is the pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, comprises the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Vaccine Alliance, WHO, and GAVI, which serves as the secretariat.

It is the only initiative on a global scale working in partnership with governments and vaccine manufacturers of developed and developing countries.

The COVAX will ensure that once COVID-19 vaccines are approved and licensed, they will be available to all countries whether they have a higher or lower income. It currently has the largest and most diverse COVID-19 portfolio globally, including nine candidate vaccines, with another nine being evaluated. COVAX is also in talks with other major producers, according to the WHO news page.

According to the United Nations web page, it aims to deliver two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2021. The GAVI will handle all requests for extension, according to a report on Channel News Asia.

The secretariat has also said that countries confirmed to have joined the COVAX will be known after the deadline.

According to the Brazil government's statement, they, as well as other countries in Latin America, are currently in talks with GAVI for the deadline extension of their participation in COVAX.

Brazil has the third-highest number of COVID-19 positive cases next to the U.S. and India, with about four million and more than a hundred thousand deaths.

The Brazil government said they need more time to get information on regulatory, storage, legal, and logistic issues.

Mexico, which is also one of the Latin American countries to have a high number of COVID-19 confirmed cases at almost 700,000, had said that they would sign the commitment before the deadline.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that more than 170 countries have confirmed joining the COVAX.

In a briefing on Wednesday, Pan-American Health Organization assistant director Jarbas Barbosa said that countries in Latin America wanted to join the global vaccine plan but are having difficulty meeting the deadline and have been asking for an extension.

According to Barbosa, all countries in the Americas except the United States are interested in the COVAX facility, including those that already have an agreement with vaccine manufacturers as it will ensure that they will have access to more vaccine doses.

Through COVAX, 10 Latin American countries, which are among the 90 poor countries in the world, will not have to pay for the vaccine, while the others in the region will pay at a convenient price.