Saudi Arabia in Talks with Vaccine Companies to Provide Vaccines to Yemen, Africa
Saudi Arabia's finance minister said on Tuesday his country is talking to vaccine producers to provide vaccines to low-income countries, such as Yemen and countries in Africa.
"We are negotiating with a lot of the
vaccination companies to provide more vaccination particularly to low-income
countries," Mohammed Al-Jadaan said during a virtual World Economic Forum
in Davos.
He said Yemen for example and some
of the African nations would not be able to get enough vaccines through the
COVAX facility - the global pooled procurement mechanism for COVID-19 vaccines.
The COVAX program aims to help
Yemen reach 20% of its high-risk population with donated vaccines.
South African President Cyril
Ramaphosa earlier told the same forum that wealthy countries should stop
hoarding excess COVID-19 vaccines that they had ordered but did not immediately
need.
