MORE than 25 million AstraZeneca doses have been received by the Philippines to date from the tripartite agreement, donations, and through the Covax facility.
The country expects more AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines this December reaching 80 percent of committed doses from the multilateral partnerships.
Globally, AstraZeneca and its partners have released more than two billion doses of their Covid-19 vaccine to more than 170 countries across every continent in the last 11 months.
The company said approximately two-thirds of these have gone to low- and lower-middle-income countries, including more than 175 million doses delivered to 130 countries through the Covax facility.
This milestone comes just over 18 months after AstraZeneca and Oxford University formed their landmark partnership for the global development and distribution of a not-for-profit Covid-19 vaccine for the world, and less than 12 months after its first emergency authorization in the United Kingdom.
“Our vaccine has played a key role in tackling the biggest public health emergency of our lifetime: an estimated million lives saved, 50 million infections prevented, two billion doses delivered.
The numbers are remarkable, and I’d like to thank everyone who put their lives to one side to help in this incredible endeavor. While much of the world still has to be vaccinated, and there is still much more to do, today is a proud day and testament to what can be achieved when we all work together,” Pascal Soriot, chief executive officer of AstraZeneca, said in a statement.
“This is a proud moment and tribute to the efforts of researchers who developed and tested the vaccine, manufacturing staff who continue to work tirelessly to make it, logistics teams who ship it to clinics in every corner of the earth, armies of vaccinators who get it in our arms, and the public who have been with us since the first clinical trial dose on April 23, 2020,” said professor Sir Andrew J Pollard, director of Oxford Vaccine Group.
To date, Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1-S [Recombinant]) is estimated to have helped prevent 50 million Covid-19 cases, five million hospitalizations, and helped save more than one million lives.
From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the vaccine has been shown to have an acceptable safety profile.
The company said it continues to engage with governments, multilateral organizations and collaborators to ensure broad and equitable access to the vaccine. (KOC WITH PR)