February 18, the Lao PDR received 594,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine from the COVAX Facility – a partnership co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the World Health Organization (WHO), with UNICEF as a key delivery partner.
The arrival of this latest shipment is part of the COVAX Facility’s ongoing efforts to ensure global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. This new batch of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines makes it the tenth shipment of COVID-19 vaccines that has been delivered to the Lao PDR through the COVAX Facility, following a recent donation of almost 1.7 million doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine through COVAX. Combined with previously received COVID-19 vaccines via the COVAX Facility, this new arrival will provide full vaccination to over 4.1 million people or approximately 56% of the Lao population.
Based on the country’s National Deployment and Vaccination Plan, this latest shipment of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines will primarily be targeted for use to provide protection to priority groups in Lao PDR, including people above 60 years of age, people with underlying health conditions, pregnant women, and health workers across the country. Thereafter, the vaccines will be administered to other target population, including those in remote and hard-to-reach areas.
In addition, the new shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines will be used to provide further protection through an additional (third) dose for those with an elevated risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
As of 16 February 2022, about 65.83 per cent of the eligible population in Lao PDR have now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination and around 58 per cent have received all recommended doses of COVID-19 vaccination.
The arrival of the new doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines will support Lao PDR in achieving its goal of 87.25 per cent vaccination coverage by the end of 2022.
Source: Lao News Agency