Amid 'historic' rollout, UN vaccine project faces some delay

GENEVA (AP) — A leader of the U.N.-backed project to deploy COVID-19 vaccines to needy people in both rich and poor countries acknowledged Tuesday that the rollout has gone slower than expected in some places because of issues with shipping and approval, but insisted that “ultimately” all doses would be made available.

Dr. Seth Berkley of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, spoke of the hiccups in the COVAX project during an update about its distribution plans. Meanwhile, the U.N. health agency chief said millions of doses are expected to arrive in Angola, Cambodia, Congo and Nigeria on Tuesday, marking new momentum for the program.

Supporters hailed a “historic” week for the unprecedented program to ship the vaccines developed in record time to fight the pandemic. While early troubles involved logistics and approval delays, a leading question now is whether manufacturers will be able to keep up with demand through COVAX, they said.

U.N. officials, governments, civil society groups and others have pleaded with manufacturers to do more to expedite and broaden production of vaccines and ensure fair distribution — insisting that the pandemic can only be defeated if everyone is safe from it.

“The distribution of vaccines has not been as equitable as we would have liked, but it has certainly been more equitable than it would have been otherwise,” without COVAX, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, a top adviser to Tedros, said “the challenge really remains whether or not now the manufacturers can keep up with the tremendous amount of orders that COVAX is putting through them. But as importantly, that COVAX can access the vaccines and the doses that have been assured to it.”

Ivory Coast and Ghana have started vaccinations this week, and Colombia received...