At the Global Health Summit in Rome on 21 May this year, Germany announced that it would be providing at least 30 million vaccine doses to developing countries by the end of the year. Most of these will be distributed under the international vaccine initiative COVAX – COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access.

Vaccines to be used immediately

The first tranche of COVID-19 vaccines produced by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson under Federal Government supply contracts is now being delivered through COVAX – COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access. Afghanistan will receive 213,600 vaccine doses, Ethiopia 271,200, Sudan 357,600, Tajikistan 100,800 and Uzbekistan 355,200. According to the World Health Organisation and the global vaccine alliance Gavi, these are countries where the demand is particularly high and where the vaccine can be put to immediate use through vaccination campaigns. This will mean the vaccine doses can be administered as quickly as possible in order to prevent further waves of infection.

In this way, Germany is making a key contribution to combating the global pandemic, which has now claimed more than four million lives. One key benefit of the programme is its potential to prevent the emergence of new virus variants.