COVAX to deliver 337 mln COVID-19 vaccine shots in H1

COVAX, the initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO) for equitable global access to the COVID-19 vaccines, on Wednesday said it has allocated a total of 337 million doses of vaccines for poorer countries so far and will aim to deliver these in the first half of 2021.

In an interim distribution forecast, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Vaccine Alliance Gavi and the WHO said the allocation would cover an average of 3.3 percent of the total population of over 140 countries taking part in the initial delivery round.

However, COVAX also warned of various caveats, such as delays in the WHO's Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL), disruptions in supply chains and logistics bottlenecks.

South Africa, Cap Verde and Rwanda are expected to be among the first countries in Africa to get the shots.

On Wednesday, China decided to provide 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to COVAX to meet the urgent needs of developing countries.

China signed an agreement with Gavi, officially joining COVAX on Oct. 8, 2020.