Dili, 17 mar 2021 (Lusa) – East Timor will be receiving shipments of covid-19 vaccines from early April, predicting vaccination over 33 thousand people, with the second shipment expected for May, told Lusa the WHO responsible.
′′ The transportation process is being coordinated with UNICEF and the first doses are expected in Dili on April 03 or 04, allowing East Timor to begin vaccination “, Lusa told the head of the World Organization of Health (WHO) in Dili, Arvind Mathur.
′′ The second part arrives four weeks after the first shipment, another 67 thousand doses, and so successively for the additional shipments up to the total 20 % “, he said.
Mathur anticipates that the ‘ priority ‘ population may be vaccinated by ‘ August or September ‘, when he noted, ‘ the global vaccine scenario will be very different ‘, with greater availability on the market and even, eventually, other vaccines in the list of WHO approved.
′′ Several countries have been approving other vaccines and East Timor may do the same “, he explained.
The goal is to vaccinate with the first dose 33 people who received the second dose when the new shipment arrives in May.
′′ The dose window can range from 04 weeks to 10 weeks. In the case of East Timor we are applying an eight-week window between doses, because it allows some people to be delayed getting the second dose, still within the allowed time “, he said.
Mathur explained to Lusa the initial complex process for obtaining initial vaccines through the COVAX mechanism (20 % of the total), with multiple shipments that will be administered in East Timor according to a list of priorities.
In the case of East Timor, vaccine production is done in South Korea with the logistics partner being of UNICEF organizing transportation to Dili.
On January 29 the COVAX mechanism indicated to WHO when countries could begin receiving vaccines on the United Nations agency’s emergency use list of vaccines.
On February 15 AstraZeneca reported that East Timor vaccines would be allocated to producers in South Korea, with COVAX confirming that the country will receive the first 100 vaccines once production is in place.
Then it was necessary to confirm to East Timor the initial shipment, which in this case will be divided into two-33 thousand doses on April 03 or 04 thousand doses in early May -, having Timorese authorities to meet a set of requirements.
These requirements include import licences, authorization and other legal agreements, then initiating the ‘acquisition’ process, which in this case has no cost to the country.
The doses needed to vaccinate the first 20 % of the population will be provided through the Covax international fund, aimed at supporting countries with more shortages and vulnerabilities.
East Timor will resort to the AstraZeneca vaccine, as it is considered ′′ the most appropriate vaccine ′′ for the country, given that it can be preserved in refrigerators, between two and eight degrees centigrade.
Within the first group of 20 % of the population to be vaccinated, the priority will be for front line officials, especially in the land border area, for teams directly involved in combating covid-19, greater than 60 years and people with comorbility
About 100 thousand shots will be for 50 thousand people on the front lines, more than 160 thousand for the 80 thousand people with comorbidities and over @DIGITS years old and 260 thousand doses (130 thousand people) with other priority and vulnerable groups.
After that, the Government estimates that more than 2,3 million doses will be needed for a universe of 1,17 million people of whom 542 thousand are under 17 years old.
The government-approved vaccination roadmap highlights the ′′ opportunity to seize the Australian Government’s availability to fund vaccine acquisition for 80 % of the population by the end of 2021, early 2022 “.
The text considers it important to ′′ plan extended vaccination for the whole population ′′ given that the pandemic remains ′′ a major threat to national, international and global public health “.
Although by stages, ′′ vaccination coverage for 100 % of the population will contribute to minimising operating costs “, with ′′ fewer interruptions in other essential health services due to mobilization of staff “.
It is noted that ′′ there is already a vaccine supply system in the country through the Cooperation Agreement between the Ministry of Health and UNICEF and Marco Contract between SAMES (central pharmacy) and UNICEF for vaccine acquisition “.
With regard to funding the remaining 80 % – at an estimated cost of $ 15,4 million (EUR 12,9 million), the roadmap predicts three scenarios, with different support values from the Australian Government, between 10 and $ 2,7 million, with the rest being bridged by the Timorese Government.
