• This marks the second batch that has been shipped and delivered to Africa by the COVAX Facility.

February 27, 2021: After Emirates delivered its first Covid-19 vaccine shipment to Ghana, the second shipment landed Côte d’Ivoire on February 26. This marks the second batch that has been shipped and delivered to Africa by the COVAX Facility to provide at least 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of 2021.

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The COVAX initiative shipped 504,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, licensed by the Serum Institute of India, and 505,000 syringes to Abidjan.

“As the first donor to the COVAX Facility with a contribution of €2.3 billion, “Team Europe” (the European Union, its Member States and the European Investment Bank) is proud to have facilitated access for the people of Côte d'Ivoire to the first Covid-19 vaccines. This is a tangible sign of solidarity, which will be gradually extended to other African countries,” said European Union Ambassador, Jobst von Kirchmann.

The minister of health and public hygiene Côte d'Ivoire, Eugene Aka Aouélé; UNICEF representative Marc Vincent; and WHO representative Jean-Marie Vianny Yameogo and their partners received the first batch of vaccines.

"The pandemic has done a lot of damage around the world and our country is no exception. The vaccines we have just received today will allow us to contain the pandemic and improve the health of our populations,” noted Aka Aouélé.

COVAX is the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator and is led jointly by Gavi, WHO, CEPI, and UNICEF which is leading vaccine procurement and delivery operations.