The COVAX Facility, a global partnership, is co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO); Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), along with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). It is funded thanks to generous support from partner governments, foundations and private sector corporations.

The goal of the COVAX Facility is to ensure that safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines are rapidly available to all countries around the world regardless of income level, to help end the acute phase of the pandemic as quickly as possible. It aims to provide at least 2 billion doses of approved COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2021, enabling the protection of frontline health care and social workers, as well as other high-risk and vulnerable groups in what will be the largest immunization campaign in history.

The first consignment of more than one million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine (SII-AZ AZD1222) was delivered by the COVAX Facility on 8 May 2021 to support Pakistan’s efforts to vaccinate high-risk people across the country.

With the arrival of the first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines the WHO Representative in Pakistan Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala (centre) thanked the Government of Pakistan for their commitment in ensuring the vaccines were swiftly administered across Pakistan and praised health care workers for their hard work and dedication during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Imtiaz Ali, UNICEF Supply and Logistics officer in Pakistan, checks doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines in a cold chamber located at the federal EPI warehouse in Islamabad. The doses are part of a consignment of 1,236,000 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines which were procured through the COVAX Facility with UNICEF support and arrived in Islamabad on 17 July 2021. This fourth delivery brings the total number of doses of vaccines delivered by the global COVID-19 vaccine equity scheme in Pakistan to five million so far. Photo: Adnan Mushtaq

Imtiaz Ali, UNICEF Supply and Logistics officer in Pakistan, oversees the offloading of 1 236 000 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines at the federal EPI warehouse in Islamabad on 17 July 2021. This fourth delivery brings the total number of doses of vaccines delivered by the COVAX Facility to 5 million so far. Photo: Adnan Mushtaq.

Photo: Adnan Mushtaq

Photo: Adnan Mushtaq