Bolivia receives first of COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX Mechanism

El Alto, Bolivia, 21 March 2021 (OPS/OMS/UNICEF) - Bolivia received today 228 thousand doses of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Mechanism, a global effort between the Coalition for Promoting Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

This arrival is a historic step towards our goal of ensuring equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally, in what will be the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history. The delivery is part of a first phase of doses to be received by Bolivia and more vaccines are planned to arrive successively during 2021. Until May, the country is expected to continue receiving doses until the vaccines allocated to Bolivia are reached: 672,000 from AstraZeneca and 92,430 from Pfizer-BioNtech, according to the first round of COVAX allocation.

PAHO's Revolving Fund, in charge of procuring COVID-19 vaccines for the countries of the Americas under the COVAX Mechanism, shipped 228,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), from Mumbai. The vaccines arrived today at the Air Task Force “Diablos Negros” airport in the city of El Alto by Bolivian Air Transport TAB, flight 751 from Miami, to Santa Cruz and then transferred to a Bolivian Air Force (FAB) Hercules aircraft. The aircraft arrived in El Alto, final destination, at around 16:00.

On the occasion, the PAHO/WHO Representative, Dr. Alma Morales Salinas, said: “For me it is a privilege to participate in this arrival of anti-COVID-19 vaccines meaning that more people will be able to be protected against COVID-19.” She added, “We will continue to work with the country to support vaccination and all known public health measures that together can stop the spread of COVID-19, protect health services and most importantly save lives.

The arrival of these first vaccines will serve to protect priority groups most at risk of developing severe cases of COVID-19, such as healthcare workers and the elderly. Bolivia is one of ten countries in the Americas that are receiving vaccines at no cost through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC).

“Today we reaffirm our commitment to vaccine equity and fulfill our promise to leave no one behind,” said Rafael Ramirez, UNICEF Representative in Bolivia.

Bolivian National Vaccination Plan

The National Vaccination Plan for the introduction of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine prepared by the Ministry of Health and Sports, through the National Expanded Program of Immunization (PAI) was designed according to international recommendations and requirements to access the COVAX Mechanism. Thus, it is a plan that has received the satisfactory approval of the main international COVAX experts.

Evaluation of the Bolivian immunization plan with the COVID-19 vaccine was key to the country being one of the four countries chosen to receive the first COVAX vaccines. The plan establishes as principles a universal, free and voluntary vaccination against COVID-19 for all Bolivians aged 18 years and older, with a defined schedule by age.

Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the territory, in March 2020, Bolivia recorded 262,941 cumulative cases and 12,028 deaths as a result of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

“Due to the fact that COVID-19 is one of the main causes of illness and death, because of its transcendence in families and in the community, its attention has become a priority in our country’s health policies,” reads one of the objectives of the country’s vaccination plan.

To address this, the national government determined to guarantee that vaccines for vaccination against COVID-19 will be available throughout the national territory, free of charge, equitably and equally, and to achieve this goal, not only did they acquire batches of vaccines bilaterally, but they also accessed the COVAX Mechanism to obtain safe and effective vaccines that comply with international standards and those of the National Regulatory Authority.

The efforts of the country and its cooperating partners such as PAHO/WHO and UNICEF are contributing to all components of the vaccination plan, including the development of a contextualized communication strategy with messages for the different Bolivian populations, with emphasis on indigenous and rural communities, street people, migrants, prisoners, in addition to the priority and most at-risk population to be vaccinated.

Equitable distribution

COVAX seeks to provide vaccines for at least 20 per cent of the population in each participating country globally during 2021. In this first round of vaccine allocation, all COVAX participating countries will receive doses to vaccinate between 2.2 per cent and 2.6 per cent of their population. The only exceptions are small island developing states, which because of their size will receive between 16 per cent and 20 per cent of their population, due to the high logistical cost of delivering small quantities of vaccine.

Until vaccination is widespread in the population, basic public health measures remain the foundation of the pandemic response. For public health authorities, this means continuing diagnostic testing, contact tracing, isolation, assisted quarantine and quality care. And for individuals, it means continuing to practice physical distancing, hand hygiene, use of masks, space ventilation, and crowd avoidance.

COVAX, the vaccine pillar of the COVID-19 Access to Tools Accelerator (ATA), is co-led by the the Coalition for Promoting Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi), and the World Health Organization (WHO), working in partnership with UNICEF, as well as civil society organizations, vaccine manufacturers, the World Bank and others.

In the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Revolving Fund is the recognized procurement agent to the COVAX mechanism for countries in the region.

Links:

PAHO’s Revolving Fund: https://www.paho.org/es/fondorotatorio

COVAX publishes the first round of allocations: https://www.gavi.org/news/media-room/covax-publishes-first-round-allocations

PAHO web page on CODID-19: www.paho.org/coronavirus

COVAX: https://www.who.int/es/initiatives/act-accelerator/covax