EU, WHO launch EUR 40M vaccination program for Eastern Partnership countries

"Today, the European Union in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a new regional program worth over EUR 40 million to provide critical assistance to ensure local readiness and preparedness for safe and effective vaccination of the population in each of the six Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine," the statement reads.

According to the statement, by strengthening preparedness and readiness of the countries for vaccinations, this program will prepare the countries for the effective receipt and administering of vaccines, including those from COVAX and through vaccine sharing mechanisms with EU Member States. The program includes risk communication and community engagement, support to vaccine supply chain management, vaccination data and safety monitoring, training of health managers and medical staff involved in the vaccination campaign, scheduling of the vaccinations, as well as key logistical support for the delivery and handling of the vaccines and supplies.

"With this new program that we launch today in partnership with the WHO, the EU shows that it delivers on its commitment to support our Eastern Partners to fight the health crisis. Acting together now will also allow us to work rapidly on the region's sustainable socio-economic recovery. Today's program comes in addition to the EUR 1 billion of EU assistance mobilized so far to address the health pandemic and support the longer term socio-economic recovery of the region," Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, responsible for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, said.

Team Europe has contributed more than EUR 850 million for COVAX, including EUR 500 million from the EU budget. This will be a key contribution for COVAX to secure 1.3 billion doses of vaccines for 92 low and middle-income countries by the end of 2021.

To ensure early access to vaccines and building on the experience of the EU's Vaccine Strategy, the European Commission is operating an EU sharing mechanism to facilitate Member States' sharing of doses secured by the EU, including with its Eastern partners.

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