The Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday that Greece had provided 1,346,400 coronavirus vaccines to Ethiopia through a group of EU member states.
These latest deliveries supplement an earlier gift of more than 10.5 million vaccination doses by EU member states.
These additional deliveries came on top of an earlier contribution from EU member states of more than 10.5 million vaccination doses.
The COVAX Facility, which aims to manage equitable access and distribution of Covid-19 vaccinations, has enlisted the help of EU member states.
The African continent received its first vaccination supply in February 2021, and Ethiopia received its first delivery on March 7, 2021, thanks to this international endeavor, which brings together multiple major actors such as the WHO and UNICEF.
Around two-thirds of the Covid-19 vaccines delivered to Ethiopia were provided by “Team Europe.” This is a critical contribution to the Ethiopian Ministry of Health’s significant efforts to accelerate the immunization campaign across the country and meet its goal of vaccinating 70% of the population by the end of 2022.
More than 13 million Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccines have been donated to Ethiopia through the COVAX mechanism in the last few days by France (6,746,400 doses), Finland (1,699,200 doses), Denmark (1,560,000 doses), Greece (1,346,400 doses), Italy (1,264,110 doses), and Sweden (1,264,110 doses) (480,690 doses).
These additional deliveries add to the more than 10.5 million vaccine doses already provided to Ethiopia through COVAX by EU member states, including almost 7.5 million doses from Germany and 165,600 doses from Portugal, for a total of nearly 24 million doses received since the pandemic began.
Greece has been donating Covid vaccines to several countries in Asia and Africa over recent months.
In early January Greece donated almost one million Covid-19 vaccines to Nigeria.
The announcement was made by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, who was in Nigeria for the first time as part of an official visit by a Greek foreign minister.
The donation to Nigeria followed similar donations to the nations of Ghana, Gabon and Indonesia.
“Greece actively contributes to the fight against the COVID19 pandemic on the global level. Greece offered its support to the people and the government of Indonesia and donated a total of 703,200 vaccines to the country, in partnership with global initiatives like COVAX”, the Greek Foreign Ministry said.
