(Jamaica Observer) Professor of Public Health, Epidemiology, and HIV-AIDS at The University of the West Indies, Mona, Dr. Peter Figueroa says standing contractual arrangements for COVID-19 vaccines with countries with deeper pockets might thwart efforts by the COVAX facility to get the jabs to lower- and middle-income countries, like Jamaica, this year.
Several countries including Jamaica have pinned a lot of hope on receiving moderate supplies of the approved vaccines through the COVAX facility, run by the World Health Organisation (WHO) along with Gavi, the vaccine alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). COVAX is one of three pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, which was launched in April by the WHO, the European Commission and France in response to the pandemic, merging governments, global health organisations, manufacturers, scientists, private sector, civil society and philanthropy, with the aim of providing innovative and equitable access to COVID-19 diagnostics, treatments and vaccines.
But speaking as a guest at the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of downtown Kingston on Wednesday, Dr. Figueroa said there might be trouble up ahead for COVAX.
