People in Donegal donated over 20,000 Covid-19 vaccines to world's poorest countries

UNICEF Ireland has revealed that people in Donegal donated over 20,000 Covid-19 vaccines to the world’s poorest countries at Christmas. 

The festive surge in donations brings the county’s total donations to UNICEF Ireland’s Get a Vaccine, Give a Vaccine campaign to 45,000 vaccine deliveries. 

UNICEF is leading the procurement and delivery of life-saving Covid19 vaccines, as part of the global COVAX initiative. 

This is the only worldwide effort working to ensure fair access to Covid-19 vaccines. 

Since March, UNICEF has delivered more than one billion vaccine doses to over 140 countries. The international rollout began in March 2021, and continues to gather pace, with UNICEF now delivering an average of 10 million Covid-19 vaccines a day.

Heralding the support of people in Donegal, UNICEF Ireland Executive Director Peter Power said the issue of fair global access to vaccines had connected with people in Ireland. 

“It has been a privilege to witness the generosity from people across Ireland. This Christmas we saw donations from every single county, including Donegal, and they keep coming,” he said.

And he added: “It started out with a simple idea. When you get a vaccine, you can give one to people in some of the world’s poorest countries. The response has been incredible. People in Ireland understand that we are all in this together, and that there should be fair access to these life-saving vaccines. Ireland’s nationwide total for donations to UNICEF is now over three million vaccine deliveries. It is remarkable and we are so grateful.”

According to UNICEF, the global vaccine rollout reached the significant milestone of one billion doses delivered on January 17.