UN-backed program seeks rollout of 100M vaccine doses in Q1
GENEVA (AP) — A U.N.-backed program to deploy COVID-19 vaccines to the neediest people worldwide, especially in poor countries, announced plans Wednesday for an initial distribution of 100 million doses by the end of March and 200 million more by July — hoping to catch up with rich countries that are already deep into rollouts.
Leaders of the COVAX Facility, which seeks a fair distribution of vaccines at a time of short supply, said nearly all of the doses expected for the initial-phase rollout are to come from British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca and its partner, the Serum Institute of India.
Frederik Kristensen, deputy CEO for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, a co-leader of the program, told a video news conference that the plans come at a “critical moment” in the fight against the virus as new variants emerged and a lopsided vaccine rollout so far — favoring rich countries.
"We are on a path to really start balancing out a global map, which so far has shown how many lower-income countries are yet to start vaccinating a single person, while other, wealthier countries go ahead towards mass vaccination,” he said.
Dr. Seth Berkley, the CEO of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, said COVAX plans for the initial distribution of 336 million doses of the vaccine, which AstraZeneca developed with Oxford University, through June to dozens of countries.
GAVI expects that nearly one-third of those doses — nearly 100 million — will start being delivered to targeted countries by the end of March, officials said.
Another 1.2 million doses of the vaccine from U.S.-based Pfizer and German partner BioNTech are expected to be shared by 18 countries during the first quarter of the year. Those companies have already been selling and distributing their...
