Bhutan signed the indemnification agreement and it was sent to the GAVI COVAX facility on 16th April. However, the delay in signing the agreement will hold up vaccines from the facility for some time. Although Bhutan will get the earlier expected doses of Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the COVAX facility will have to work on reallocating the vaccines.
The COVAX started its first-quarter distribution in February and so far, more than 49 million doses of vaccine have been delivered to various countries.
An indemnification agreement is a document that needs to be signed between the COVAX member countries and the manufacturer. The WHO representative in Bhutan said it is understandable for Bhutan to take time in signing the agreement as it is a prerogative of any country to ensure that any agreement will not have negative implications to the nation.
“Due to some delays in the signing of the documents, the earlier allocations is still there, however, these vaccines are not freely available in the market. This means that the COVAX facility will again rearrange and reallocate of course with the same doses that have been allocated earlier. They need to look at many other things, Not just the availability of vaccines but also transportation and so on,” said Dr Rui Paulo de Jesus, the WHO Representative in Bhutan.
He also shared the gratitude towards India for giving COVID vaccines and hopes that India would again support Bhutan for the second dose of vaccine. Bhutan is expected to receive nearly 6000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and over 40,000 of the Oxford-AstraZeneca in the first-quarter distribution from the COVAX facility.
Kinley Dem
