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Geneva, Switzerland – The poorest countries will start receiving doses of coronavirus vaccination early next year from a facility created to ensure fair access, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners said on Friday.
Nearly two billion doses of candidate vaccines have been secured for the Covax facility, managed by WHO in conjunction with the Gavi Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Outbreak Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
Countries like the United States and Great Britain have already started rolling out a vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNtech, and another developed by Moderna is expected to gain widespread approval soon.
Neither drug is included in the two billion doses, but the WHO said it was in discussions with both companies.
“The arrangements announced today will allow all participating economies to have access to the doses in the first half of 2021, and the first deliveries are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2021,” the WHO, Gavi and CEPI said in a statement.
Shipments of enough vaccines to protect health and social care workers would be delivered “in the first half of 2021 to all participating economies that have requested doses in this period,” the statement said.
He said deliveries were contingent on regulatory approvals and preparation of countries for delivery.
20% target by 2021
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference that “the light at the end of the tunnel has gotten a little brighter.”
“But we will only really end the pandemic if we end it everywhere at the same time, which means that it is essential to vaccinate some people in all countries, rather than all people in some countries,” he said.
The statement said that by the end of the year, 20 percent of the population of the participating countries should be covered.
The WHO revealed on Friday that it had signed a deal with US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson for 500 million doses of a candidate drug, in addition to agreements already signed with AstraZeneca, Novavax and Sanofi-GSK.
The UN health agency has previously said it was willing to include vaccines developed in China and Russia if those drugs prove safe and effective.
CEPI chief Richard Hatchett said massive research and development efforts are paying off.
“We now have safe and effective vaccines that can protect against COVID-19 and a clear path to ensure two billion doses for the populations most at risk around the world,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gavi boss Seth Berkley praised the “unprecedented speed and scale” of the project.
“Ensuring access to doses of a new vaccine for high- and low-income countries, around the same time and during a pandemic, is a feat the world has never accomplished before,” he said.
Covax is a collaboration between organizations, companies, and 190 countries, but neither the United States nor Russia have come together so far.
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