Coronavirus: Some nations seek more time to join WHO vaccine plan

More than 170 countries have joined the global vaccine plan to help buy and distribute immunisation shots for Covid-19 fairly around the world. PHOTO: REUTERS

BRASILIA • Brazil and several other Latin American countries have informed the World Health Organisation (WHO) that they need more time to sign up for its global Covid-19 vaccine allocation plan known as Covax, officials have said.

Countries had until yesterday midnight to formalise legally binding commitments to Covax, a mechanism for pooled procurement and equitable distribution of eventual vaccines.

A representative for the Gavi Alliance, the Covax secretariat that will handle the requests for an extension, said by e-mail that details of which nations have joined Covax, an US$18 billion (S$24.4 billion) initiative, will be made public only after the deadline.

"The federal government, as well as other countries, continues in talks with Gavi to extend the deadline for formalising Brazil's participation in the initiative," a Brazilian statement on Thursday said.

Brazil, which has the world's most severe outbreak outside the United States and India, said more time was needed to gather information on regulatory, legal, storage and logistical issues.

Health officials in Mexico, which has the worst outbreak in Latin America after Brazil, said their country would sign the commitment on time before the deadline.

More than 170 countries have joined the global vaccine plan to help buy and distribute immuni-sation shots for Covid-19 fairly around the world, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday.

Dr Jarbas Barbosa, assistant director of the Pan-American Health Organisation, said in a briefing on Wednesday that Latin American countries were having trouble meeting the deadline, and some wanted to push back the date.

Dr Barbosa said all countries in the Americas except the United States had expressed interest in the vaccine facility, even those that have separate agreements with vaccine makers, because it gives them an added guarantee of access to doses.

Meanwhile, China faces a major test in its vaccine diplomacy, as it decides whether it will officially join Covax. Beijing has said that it supports Covax, without clearly saying if it is putting any money into the project. Signing up would help to repair China's image around the world over how it handled the initial outbreak in Wuhan, particularly since the Trump administration has refused to join Covax.

So far, Beijing has focused on cutting one-on-one deals for vaccine doses with friendly governments.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 19, 2020, with the headline Coronavirus: Some nations seek more time to join WHO vaccine plan. Subscribe