Jamaica signed up to Bill Gates-backed global COVID-19 vaccine initiative

Confirming the countries participating Jamaica’s chief medical officer Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie informed the nation during a live televised media briefing Monday that “there was a release recently that named the countries and some persons were concerned that Jamaica was not mentioned in that release.”

The initiative seeks to provide countries worldwide equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, once they are licensed and approved.

However, China, Russia and the United States of America are not listed as signatories. Jamaica’s omission was quickly noticed by eagle-eyed nationalists but there is a valid reason for this, the CMO said.

“But we are in fact involved in that but under the PAHO Revolving Fund,” she explained. “So essentially you would not have seen any of the English-speaking Caribbean countries mentioned because they’re all part of the PAHO Revolving Fund that is a part of the COVAX facility.”

Under COVAX facility, member countries, irrespective of the strength of their economy, will have vaccine allocated for 20% of its population under the first phase.

“COVID-19 is an unprecedented global health challenge that can only be met with unprecedented cooperation between governments, researchers, manufacturers and multilateral partners,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “By pooling resources and acting in solidarity through the ACT Accelerator and the COVAX Facility, we can ensure that once a vaccine is available for COVID-19, it’s available equitably to all countries.”

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According to the WHO, a collaboration between Serum Institute of India (SII), Gavi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced earlier this month will ensure up to 100 million doses of AstraZeneca or Novavax’s candidate vaccines, if successful, will be available to low- and middle-income economies through the COVAX Facility at just US$ 3 per dose. The arrangement also provides an option to secure additional doses if COVAX sees a need for it. Separate agreements between Gavi, CEPI and AstraZeneca, announced in June, guarantee a further 300 million doses of their candidate vaccine, if successful, for the COVAX Facility.