UNICEF works to overcome Covax vaccine supply disruption

UNICEF works to overcome Covax vaccine supply disruption

The delivery of Covishield vaccines to Cambodia through the United Nation’s COVAX Facility could be delayed as India has temporarily suspended exports to deal with a surge in Covid-19 cases, said a UNICEF spokesperson.

Cambodia has so far received 324,000 doses of Covishield, which are India-made Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines. According to COVAX Facility’s delivery schedule, Cambodia is expected to receive 1.1 million doses at the end of May.

However, Rudina Vojvoda, UNICEF communications chief, told Khmer Times yesterday that the 1.1 million doses are delayed “as a result of the supply constraints related to AstraZeneca/Serum Institute of India vaccines coming from India”.

“As India confronts a devastating rise in Covid-19 cases and has moved to open up vaccinations to all of its population over 18 years of age, this has caused unexpected supply challenges globally,” she said.

“Globally, Covax and UNICEF (as the coordinator agency for vaccine supply and logistics) is working to diversify both its portfolio of vaccines and its channels to procure vaccines for countries,” Vojvoda said.

She said: “It is also exploring dose-sharing, such as through vaccine donations from countries with large vaccine stocks. Covax has confirmed that countries like Cambodia will be prioritised for such schemes.”

“Furthermore, it has called for all countries to share their excess stock to cover the shortfall so that others, including Cambodia, can receive the next batch of vaccines as soon as possible,” she said, adding that Covax is expected to share an updated timeline for its vaccine distribution to Cambodia soon.

“AstraZeneca is not suspended in Cambodia. There are other ways to procure AstraZeneca from other manufacturers and other countries, and this is what Covax is exploring right now,” she said.

Or Vandine, chairwoman of the Health Ministry’s Vaccination Committee, said that the ministry requested more than 1.1 million doses of vaccines from the COVAX Facility which are waiting for approval to be delivered from India to Cambodia.

“We already ordered those vaccines,” she said.

The Health Ministry has also requested four million doses of AstraZeneca from the United States, according to US embassy spokesman Chad Roedemeier, who told Khmer Times yesterday that the request will be delivered to officials in Washington.

“The United States, through USAID, has provided more than $11 million to help Cambodia respond to the Covid-19 pandemic and our assistance has helped Cambodia prevent, detect and respond to the pandemic outbreak,” Roedemerier said.

“The United States has pledged $4 billion, far more than any other country, to the WHO/COVAX Facility, which is shipping vaccines around the world equitably to middle- and lower-income countries like Cambodia,” he said.

President Joe Biden has announced that the United States will provide 80 million doses of vaccine to support global needs by the end of June.

The United States will work with Covax and other partners to ensure these vaccines are delivered in a way that is equitable and follows the science and public health data. The United States will not use its vaccines to secure favours from other countries, he said.

Cambodia was among the first countries in the world to get Covid-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility, receiving 324,000 doses of AstraZeneca in March.

India has exported 63 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to almost 100 nations through the COVAX Facility, commercial sales and donations made to smaller South Asian, Caribbean and African nations.

With a surging outbreak that is registering more than 4,000 deaths daily, India has all but stopped its contributions to the COVAX Facility to meet its domestic demand.

Cambodia has received more than five million doses of the vaccine, including 1.7 million doses of Chinese-supplied Sinopharm vaccine, 324,000 doses of AstraZeneca from COVAX Facility and three million doses of Sinovac vaccines purchased from China.

In another development, the Health Ministry claims that the number of vaccinated people nationwide by the end of 2021 could reach 50 percent of the planned goal of 10 million people.

Vandine said: “I do not dare to predict whether or not (we will reach) 50 percent. It depends on the number of vaccines we receive. If nothing changes according to the government’s plan, we hope that vaccinations will reach between four million and five million people.”

She said that the vaccinated population is currently close to 22 percent (21.99 percent), which is more than two million people compared to the goal of 10 million people.

In Phnom Penh, doctors are rushing to vaccinate people in eight districts. The first phase was the four Red Zone districts, where the army administered the vaccines, she said.

Now two more districts, Russey Keo and Tuol Kork, are currently vaccinating residents.

“On May 16, we also received a partial delivery of Sinovac vaccines, so we have launched a campaign for two more districts, Boeng Keng Kang and Sen Sok, which began on May 18,” she said.

“In the coming days, when more vaccines arrive, we will continue the campaign in the remaining districts, so depending on the number of vaccines that arrive, if there are more vaccines, we can inject more,” she said.

World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Cambodia Dr Li Ailan said yesterday that she congratulates the government’s effort which has vaccinated more than 2.2 million people over the country and that was amazing achievement.

“I think many countries in Asean did not have enough vaccine to inoculate their people yet, but Cambodia can reach the vaccination campaign goal,” Dr Li said.

Cambodia will seek more than 20 million doses of the vaccine to be given to more than 10 million people to build herd immunity and succeed in the Covid-19 mission to improve the future economy.

Health Minister Dr Mam Bun Heng on Monday claimed that the reason why so many Covid-19 patients have recovered in Cambodia is due to the vaccination campaign along with using the traditional Chinese medicine “Lianhua Qingwen”.

He said that patients who have been vaccinated and used traditional Chinese medicine do not develop serious symptoms and the number of patients with severe symptoms were only two to three people.

He added that most of the deaths from Covid-19 were due to physical illness and old age and the government was trying to vaccinate the elderly so that if they do contract Covid-19, their symptoms should be less severe.

“We are now seeing a lot of mild conditions being cured because we have been vaccinated in combination with traditional Chinese medicine being used to treat patients with mild symptoms such as runny nose, cough and fever,” Bun Heng said.

He said that on April 29, the Chinese government donated 88,000 boxes of Lianhua Qingwen Chinese traditional medicine to the Ministry of Health to help treat patients of Covid-19 with mild symptoms.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health reported 568 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday, bringing the total number in the Kingdom to 26,329. Of the new cases, 28 are imported and the rest are linked to the February 20 Community Event.

The ministry also announced four deaths due to Covid-19, bringing the total number of fatalities to 183.

At the same time, the ministry also recorded 663 new recoveries, bringing the total in the Kingdom to 19,022. Khmer Times