Spain to donate more than 20 million vaccines to African nations

By this week, more than 10 million vaccines will have been delivered to countries on the African continent, and at least another 10 million will be dispatched in the coming weeks, with destinations still to be confirmed, the Spanish central government said in a statement.

According to government information, the Ivory Coast was the first African country to receive vaccines donated by Spain through the Covax multilateral mechanism on 4 November, and is expected to receive a second batch of more than 1,250,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccines today.

Angola has received 3,417,600 vaccines from Moderna and Johnson&Johnson in the last few days.

Other recipients are Mauritania, Egypt with more than four million, or the Republic of Congo.

"These figures are a clear demonstration of Spain's international solidarity with its partners and make us one of the most committed countries in the European Union in promoting equitable access to vaccines," the government stressed.

50 million doses through Covax

In compliance with the Universal Access to Solidarity Vaccination Plan approved by the Government on 19 January, the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced at the G20 summit that Spain would donate 50 million vaccines through Covax. Of them, at least 20 million will go to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa.

Spain considers vaccination to be a global public good, and therefore supports access to it through the Covax multilateral mechanism.

This mechanism has allowed Spain to become the second largest donor country in Latin America, and to be among the top five countries in terms of donations made through the Covax mechanism.