The COVAX vaccine-sharing programme said on Tuesday it will deliver 237 million doses of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 shot to 142 countries by the end of May as it steps up the global roll-out of its vaccine supplies.
The timeline for the delivery of doses, made by AstraZeneca and by India's Serum Institute, will be split into separate two-month schedules, COVAX said in a statement, with the first in February-March and the second in April-May.
"These timelines are dependent on a variety of factors including national regulatory requirements, availability of supply, and fulfillment of other criteria such as validated national deployment and vaccination plans," the statement said.
COVAX is the programme backed by the World Health Organization and GAVI vaccine alliance to provide vaccines for poor and middle-income countries. It began its roll-out last week with the first deliveries of shots to Ghana and Ivory Coast.
"It can't be overemphasized enough that we are undertaking the largest and most complex vaccine rollout in history," Seth Berkley, GAVI chief executive officer, told a news conference.
"We are just starting, but we should see more and more countries being served in coming weeks and months including those at all income levels and across the world," he said.
Hailing the campaign as an "unprecedented partnership", WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Angola, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria could also expect deliveries of COVAX-supplied vaccines on Tuesday.
"This is an unprecedented partnership that will not only change the course of the pandemic but also change the way the world responds to future health emergencies," Tedros said.
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo told the same briefing that his West African country, which this week began its inoculation campaign with COVAX doses, aimed to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of 2021.
The COVAX statement said that as well as the first round of allocations of the AstraZeneca vaccine, some 1.2 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot were also anticipated for delivery in the first quarter of 2021.
COVAX hoped to finalise a deal with Novavax for 1.1 billion doses in coming weeks, Berkley said.
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU