BELIZE CITY, Thurs. May 13, 2021– The week the second batch of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility arrived in Belize. This shipment arrived just in time, since the last doses of the previous stock were administered on May 10, according to the Minister of Health and Wellness.

The country’s inoculation program presses on with the thirty-three thousand six hundred additional doses now in the country. To date, almost 50,000 persons have received at least their first jab.

To date, Belize has received sixty-seven thousand two hundred vaccine doses. At least 30 percent of our population are expected to be immunized with vaccine doses from the allocation agreed upon with the COVAX facility. The country is scheduled to receive a total of one hundred thousand eight hundred doses through COVAX.

The shipments are being facilitated by PAHO’s revolving fund, which is also responsible for the procurement of the vaccines. After all participating countries receive enough shots to cover 20 percent of their population, more allocations will be made.