UK Vaccine Donation
The United Kingdom has begun delivering nine million doses of coronavirus vaccine to what they term “the most vulnerable countries.” On Tuesday, Belize got its share, some forty-two thousand doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The B.B.C. reports that Kenya, Jamaica and Indonesia are among the countries receiving the vaccines. Last month, during a summit in Cornwall, the G7 group of leading industrial nations pledged to donate one billion coronavirus vaccine doses to poorer countries, with US President Joe Biden announcing that his country would provide five hundred million doses. The majority of the vaccines will be delivered through the COVAX Facility, which aims to provide vaccines for at least twenty percent of the population in ninety-two low or medium-income countries. In addition to the UK donation, Belize was fortunate to also receive its third shipment of thirty-three thousand doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine also this week procured by the Government of Belize through the COVAX Facility.