Rotary joins hands with GAVI and COVAX

Rotary International (RI) global Covid-19 Task Force Chairman K R Ravindran (a former global President of RI ) of Sri Lanka announced that the Rotary Foundation and Gavi (the vaccine alliance) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding confirming a collaborative arrangement globally to further Covid-19 vaccine coverage through social realisation advocacy and demand generation activities.

GAVI is a global public and private sector vaccine alliance, with the shared goal of increasing equitable use of vaccines, and is co-leading the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, at a worldwide initiative aimed at making sure every country has access to Covid-19 vaccines.

The initiative is directed by Gavi and partnered by WHO, UNICEF and CEPI.

Sri Lanka has received 3,320,560 doses from COVAX of AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna vaccines, covering 7.6% of the population. Another 264,000 doses of AZ is in the pipeline for delivery this month, bringing the total population coverage to around 8% with COVAX doses.

Rotary and Gavi already enjoy a good relationship working together in the eradication of Polio, and have come to an agreement in principle to work together towards the vision of “One World Protected” against Covid-19. To begin with, GAVI/COVAX has short listed 9 countries to work with Rotary, which includes Sri Lanka.

Gavi and Rotary have agreed that current international vaccine access is uneven, and mitigation of that gap is crucial. No country is safe unless all the countries are safe, and only vaccinating the whole world will determine the course of the pandemic. Currently some wealthy countries have vaccinated about two-thirds of their population against the coronavirus, whilst just 1.1 per cent of people in low-income countries have received even their first jab.

In many countries Rotarians could use the experience gained through their Polio eradication efforts to support COVAX in the delivery of the vaccines and in many other ways. There have only been two cases of wild polio virus this whole year in the world as against the 350,000 per annum when the programme commenced.

In Sri Lanka, Rotary has been working closely with the Ministry of Health and others delivering more than US$2m worth of equipment and supplies – including to the MRI. Its ‘Stop the Spread programme’ which focuses on non-pharmaceutical interventions has already made a significant impact in schools, commercial establishments and companies.