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BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil and Argentina, Latin American nations seeking more time to commit to the global installation of the COVID-19 vaccine known as COVAX, said they intend to do so as soon as possible after missing Friday’s deadline.
Peru’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that it managed to sign the binding agreement on Friday and will have access to 12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX, a scheme for joint procurement and equitable distribution of eventual vaccines.
Argentina asked for more time to prepare the necessary paperwork, but hopes to sign its commitment to the vaccination mechanism led by the World Health Organization on Wednesday, a health ministry official told Reuters.
The Brazilian government said in a statement late Friday that it will enroll in COVAX after negotiations with the GAVI Alliance, which is the secretariat of COVAX.
“Buying a safe and effective vaccine is a priority for the federal government,” said a Brazilian statement.
Brazil faces the worst coronavirus outbreak after the United States and India, with 4.5 million cases, and has the highest death toll in the world outside the United States.
A dozen countries in Central and Latin America had informed the WHO that they would request more time to register after midnight on Friday, the deadline for formalizing legally binding documents.
Brazil’s statement would appear to indicate that the GAVI Alliance agreed to give nations more time to join COVAX.
A diplomat in Geneva said the request had been submitted in the form of a letter on Friday and was seeking a one-month extension. The diplomat did not give details of the reason for the delay.
He said that the countries that made the request were Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Uruguay, Venezuela, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic.
Report by Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Marco Aquino in Lima and Marina Lammertyn in Buenos Aires; Edited by David Gregorio
