Through donations to COVAX, Spain shows its commitment to this mechanism – one of the pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A).
For Spain, vaccination is a global public asset, and stands among the five leading countries in the world in donations through the COVAX mechanism, and the second leading donor in Latin America. Of these doses, 22 million have been allocated to countries in Ibero-America and the Caribbean, 16 million to Sub-Saharan Africa and 7.5 million to the Southern Neighbourhood.
Over recent days, deliveries have accelerated to some countries. On Friday, in line with Spain’s health cooperation with Ibero-America, a new batch of vaccines donated by Spain under the COVAX mechanism was handed over to Colombia. The delivery was made in the presence of the State Secretary for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela Rodríguez, and the President of the Republic of Colombia, Iván Duque.
Over the coming weeks, this country will receive 6,488,820 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which will be handed over on a staggered basis. Following this third shipment, the total number of vaccines donated by Spain amounts to 7,546,420 doses and our country thus becomes the leading donor of vaccines to Colombia, followed by the United States, with 6 million doses donated to date.
Furthermore, on Saturday, 29 January, 244,800 and 381,600 single doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were handed over in two Team Europe operations to Mauritania and Syria, respectively.
In the case of Mauritania, this is the fifth batch of donations made by Spain to a strategic country in our relations and steps up our ties with this neighbouring country, which is also a priority country for our development cooperation. The donation to Syria is a great example of Spain’s commitment to global health, and specifically, to the people of Syria, which is being ravaged by a severe humanitarian situation, and continues to show the solidarity our country is showing with humanitarian contexts, as with the recent donation of vaccines to Afghan refugees in Iran.
Furthermore, on Monday, 31 January, 302,400 doses were handed over to Senegal, which is also a priority country for Spanish Cooperation. Further deliveries will be made in the coming weeks.
-NON OFFICIAL TRANSLATION-