The European Union and the World Health Organization are together launching a $48.5 million (40-million euro) program to help deploy COVID-19 vaccines in six former Soviet republics.
Key Points
- This was announced by the WHO Regional Director for Europe announced the program while pointing out a 4-week decline in confirmed coronavirus cases.
- The program will include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova.
- It complements the work of an existing EU program and the WHO-backed COVAX Facility which aims to deploy vaccines for people in all countries in need whether rich or poor.
- New confirmed infections in the WHO Europe region of 53 countries have decreased in the last 4 weeks and also the virus-related deaths have decreased in the last two weeks.
- 8 million people have completed immunizations against the coronavirus in the region.
- The number of vaccine doses administered has outstripped the number of reported COVID-19 cases, with around 41 million doses given in comparison to the 36 million cases reported in the region during the pandemic.
- After reviewing AstraZeneca’s vaccine, a WHO expert group said that recommended dosage is two doses administered over an interval of 8 to 12 weeks.
- AstraZeneca’s vaccine is to become a major part of the UN-backed rollout of vaccines to poorer countries.
World Health Organisation
WHO is a specialized UN Agency looking after global public health. It was formed in the year 1948 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.