UK begins donating millions of Covid-19 vaccines overseas

Foreign Secretary announces the UK will begin to deliver nine million Covid-19 vaccines around the world to help tackle the pandemic.

The UK will this week begin delivering nine million Covid-19 vaccines around the world, including to Indonesia, Jamaica and Kenya, to help tackle the pandemic, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has announced.

Five million doses are being offered to COVAX, the scheme to ensure equitable, global access to Covid-19 vaccines. COVAX will urgently distribute them to lower-income countries via an equitable allocation system which prioritises delivering vaccines to people who most need them. Another four million doses will be shared directly with countries in need.

“The UK is sending 9 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, the first batch of the 100 million doses we’ve pledged, to get the most vulnerable parts of the world vaccinated as a matter of urgency,” said Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on June 28.

“We’re doing this to help the most vulnerable, but also because we know we won’t be safe until everyone is safe.

“The UK has been at the forefront of the global response to Covid-19, including through investing £90 million to support the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Over half a billion doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have been delivered at a non-profit price globally, with two-thirds going to lower- and middle-income countries,” he added.

Indonesia will receive 600,000 doses, 300,000 will be sent to Jamaica and 817,000 are to be transported to Kenya, among other countries.

The UK is donating the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, made by Oxford Biomedica in Oxford and packaged in Wrexham, North Wales.

This is the first tranche of the 100 million vaccines the Prime Minister pledged the UK would share within the next year at last month’s G7 in Cornwall, with 30 million due to be sent by the end of the year. At least 80 million of the 100 million doses will go to COVAX, with the rest going to countries directly. The donations will help meet the pledge that G7 leaders made to vaccinate the world and end the pandemic in 2022.

Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories.