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LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Nearly 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be shipped and flown to developing countries next year in a “mammoth operation,” the UN children’s agency UNICEF said on Monday as world leaders pledged to ensure fair distribution of vaccines.
UNICEF said it was working with more than 350 airlines and transportation companies to deliver vaccines and a billion syringes to poor countries like Burundi, Afghanistan and Yemen as part of COVAX, a global COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan with the World Health Organization (WHO).
“This invaluable collaboration will go a long way toward ensuring that there is sufficient transportation capacity for this historic and gigantic operation,” Etleva Kadilli, director of UNICEF’s Supply Division, said in a statement.
COVAX, co-led by the GAVI vaccine group, WHO, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, aims to deter governments from stockpiling COVID-19 vaccines and focus on vaccinating those most at risk first in each country.
At a G20 summit this weekend, the leaders of the 20 largest world The economies pledged to ensure the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, drugs and tests so that the poorest countries are not left out.
Even before the pandemic broke out, access to vaccines was uneven and around 20 million babies were not receiving vaccines that could save them from serious illness, death, disability and disease. Health, According to WHO.
“We need all hands on deck as we prepare to deliver COVID-19 vaccine doses, syringes and more personal protective equipment to protect front-line workers around the world,” said UNICEF’s Kadilli, who works with the Panamericana Health Organization and the International Air Transport Association.
UNICEF’s role with COVAX stems from its status as the main individual buyer of vaccines in the world.
It said it purchases more than 2 billion doses of vaccines a year for routine immunization and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries.
Pharmacists and research centers worldwide are competing to develop COVID-19 vaccines, with large global trials of several of the candidates involving tens of thousands of participants already underway.
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech could obtain an emergency authorization in the US and Europe for their COVID-19 vaccine next month after the final trial results showed a 95% success rate and no serious side effects.
READ: Pfizer Completes COVID-19 Trial 95% Efficient
Moderna Inc published preliminary data for its vaccine last week showing an effectiveness of 94.5%.
READ: Moderna says its vaccine is 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19
The better-than-expected results of the two vaccines, both developed with new messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, have raised hopes that a pandemic that has killed more than 1.3 million people and caused havoc on economies and daily life. —Report by Lin Taylor @linnytayls, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith
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