Canada donates nearly 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Uganda

Canada has donated nearly 2 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Uganda, according to the United Nations.

The shipment was part of Canada’s commitment to the WHO-led COVAX vaccine sharing facility.

In a statement on Saturday, the UN children’s fund, UNICEF, said 1,904,140 doses had been received by Uganda’s ministry of health.

“This first donation of the Canadian-financed vaccines to Uganda is a significant moment and a concrete example of global solidarity in action,” Uganda’s Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng said.

“We especially want to thank the Government of Canada for the timely and critical support they made to COVAX to make this possible,” she added.

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) confirmed that this was Canada’s first donation to Uganda through the COVAX facility.

“Canada is committed to a comprehensive and global response to the pandemic. We are working to ensure that countries across the world have access to COVID-19 vaccines,” Jason Kung, a spokesperson for GAC, told Global News in an emailed statement.

Global News reached out to the Public Health Agency of Canada for comment, but did not get a response at the time of publication.

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Last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will donate 10 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine to the COVAX vaccine sharing facility and donate $15 million to help make mRNA vaccines in Africa.

In all, between financial contributions and direct delivery of doses, Canada says it will help deliver at least 200 million shots of vaccine by the end of next year.

The World Health Organization has urged countries to donate to its COVAX facility initiative, staking the world’s economic recovery on the equitable distribution of vaccines.

–With files from The Canadian Press