AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines via COVAX shipment delayed because of supply shortage, according to WHO.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said that AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines via COVAX shipment delayed because of supply shortage.
During a Palace briefing, World Health Organization (WHO) Country Representative Rabindra Abeyasinghe said that the first batch of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses promised by the COVAX Facility will be further delayed because of a global supply shortage.
According to Abeyasinghe, the agreed quantity of 920,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses for the next delivery might be reduced due to the shortage of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.
Abeyasinghe assured the public that once vaccine production picked up again, the COVAX Facility will be able to cover 20% of the Philippine population.
READ ALSO: Philippines Would Have To Reimburse COVAX If Vaccine Priority Line Deemed Violated — Gavi
ABS-CBN News reported that most of the COVID-19 vaccines coming from COVAX were donated by other countries, but 25% will have to be paid for by the Philippine government.
So far, the Philippines had received 525,600 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses from the COVAX Facility. The said vaccine was the only COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines that can be received by the elderly.
Abeyasinghe said that the global shortage of COVID-19 vaccines was also partly because of the increase in coronavirus cases worldwide.
“The problem is that we as a global community faced is facing a vaccine shortage. Serum Institute of India, which was exporting large quantities of vaccines to COVAX, based on decision by the Indian government to protect the Indian population because of the surge of cases, have decided they will not be exporting vaccines ’til the end of this month,” Abeyasinghe said.
READ ALSO: Philippines Pushing For More Sputnik V, Sinovac COVID-19 Vaccines As COVAX Faces Shortfall – Duque
Abeyasinghe also said that it was difficult that countries were rushing to inoculate all of their citizens when there were efforts to have a more equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
He added that the World Health Organization was encouraging countries with excess COVID-19 vaccine doses to share vaccines with others. Moreover, he said that they’re also expecting an increase in manufacturing capacity by Q3 and Q4 of 2021.
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