France kicks off Europe's vaccine donations to poorer states
The French donation of an initial 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine this month, announced on Wednesday, is a boost for the international COVAX scheme.
FranceFrance will soon become the first European Union member to send some of its own COVID vaccine supplies to developing countries via the international COVAX scheme, hoping others will join its bid to stave off new variants and compete with Russia and China, reports US News & World Report.
The French donation of an initial 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine this month, announced on Wednesday, is a boost for COVAX, which is backed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI).
The COVAX facility aims to secure 2 billion vaccine doses for lower-income countries by the end of 2021 and had received billions of dollars in support but not a single donated dose.
"France will inaugurate the European vaccine sharing mechanism with COVAX," an adviser to French president Emmanuel Macron said.