Spain donates another 15 million corona vaccines to poor countries. This vaccine donation is in addition to the previous 7.5 million given to Latin America. With these donations, Spain hopes to set an example for other prosperous countries.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Sánchez announced a second vaccine donation from Spain. Through the ‘Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access’ (COVAX) project, the donated corona vaccines are distributed in countries that have less access to vaccines. In practice, these vaccines often go to poor countries.
Spain donates 22.5 million vaccines
This donation of 15 million vaccines is in addition to Spain’s previous donation of 7.5 million vaccines which went to Latin America via COVAX. The Spanish Prime Minister made this announcement during a COVAX conference attended by representatives of the European Union, the US and the World Health Organisation. On Wednesday afternoon, Sánchez announced Spain’s support for this programme in English via Twitter.
Total support from the Spanish government €108million
Spain is not only donating 22.5 million vaccines to other countries. The Spanish government is also making €50million available to GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations), the public-private partnership leading the COVAX project. The project aim is to increase access to vaccination in poor countries. With the two donations of vaccines and the money donation, the total support from Spain comes to more than €108million.
Prime Minister Sánchez said he wanted to set an example to other prosperous countries. “Only by showing solidarity with other countries will we get out of this crisis and heal the wounds in our society,” he said.
How many vaccines?
The GAVI campaign aims to fund or donate 1.8 billion doses of vaccines by the end of 2021. At the time of writing, COVAX has distributed 78 million doses of corona vaccines in 129 countries around the world.
