COVAX to provide more than 1 million doses of vaccine
 
Some 1.27 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine provided by four donating countries through the COVAX Facility will arrive in Vientiane on Thursday.
Their provision is part of efforts to ensure equitable access to Covid vaccines globally, with this latest donation to Laos being supported by the Netherlands, Greece, Japan and France. 
The shipment is scheduled to arrive at Wattay International Airport tomorrow afternoon.
The consignment of vaccine is the latest aid of its kind provided by the COVAX Facility, which is a major global provider of Covid-19 vaccine.
The Facility is a partnership co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organisation (WHO), with UNICEF as the key delivery partner.
In addition to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Laos received 132,000 doses of the Astra Zeneca-Oxford vaccine in March and 100,620 doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine in early June. Both of these shipments were procured through the COVAX Facility.
Japan has also announced the donation, through the COVAX Facility, of 616,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in Japan. This will further boost the Lao government’s vaccination programme.
As of December 20, a total of 1,461,684 people in Laos had received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while 3,377,027 people have been given two doses. There are no figures on the number of people who have had a third or booster dose.
A first dose of a vaccine has now been given to 60.19 percent of the population, while second doses have been delivered to 46.02 percent.

ByPhetphoxay Sengpaseuth
(Latest Update December 23, 2021)