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Agency: It is not clear that Azerbaijan is included in the list of 18 countries to receive Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines

05 March 2021 06:23 (UTC +04:00)

The State Agency for Mandatory Health Insurance does not agree with the World Health Organization's (WHO) note that Azerbaijan is not included in the list of 18 countries that will receive Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines under the COVAX platform, the agency told APA.

According to Agency, the WHO said that the participating countries, which started the COVID-19 vaccination program by January 29, were not included in the first exclusive distribution stage of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine:

"This justification is not clear, and the provisions in this regard are not reflected in any legal document or official correspondence. Azerbaijan has approved a vaccination strategy, taking into account the recommendations of the WHO, and has met all the technical requirements to receive vaccines.

The Republic of Azerbaijan is one of the first 50 countries to appreciate the initiative and to join this cooperation of the COVAX platform to develop vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which was established last year.

According to the report, Azerbaijan supports the distribution of vaccines among the countries of the world on the principles of justice and solidarity:

"Unfortunately, we would like to note that in practice we see the opposite.

We emphasize once again that from the first day, Azerbaijan has acted in accordance with WHO recommendations, contributed to the cooperation in the fight against COVID-19, and continues to fulfill all obligations for the health of its citizens."

It was noted in the correspondence with COVAX that Azerbaijan is fully ready to receive these vaccines in terms of infrastructure:

"Today, the COVAX project is virtually unable to fulfill its obligations. An unfair approach to the proper distribution of vaccines directly indicates serious problems in the implementation of this project. We believe that this process should be controlled under the COVAX project and specific requirements should be set for manufacturing companies.

The agency stated its position in an official letter to COVAX and called on the initiators to reconsider the decision.