WHO expects to have half a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses ready by 2021

The World Health Organization expects to have half a billion shots of COVID-19 vaccines prepared for distribution by the global COVAX initiative in the first part of 2021, its chief scientist announced on Friday.

To date, 189 countries have participated in the COVAX programme, which is supported by the WHO and attempts to assure equal distribution of vaccines. The United States is not amongst them, having acquired bilateral deals.

The first COVAX plan is to protect the 20% of populations at greatest risk, including health workers and people aged over 65.

“The aim is to get at least 2 billion doses by the end of 2021 which will be sufficient to protect 20% of the populations of nations that are part of COVAX,” chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan announced at Geneva news conference.

This would be adequate to “guide to an end the critical phase of the pandemic” by decreasing death and the impact on health systems, she stated.

“Our goal, our goal is that in the first part of 2021 that we would have about half a billion of treatments available to be distributed over the countries, in a fair way,” Swaminathan stated.

“So nations can start assuming doses approaching the end of the first quarter of 2021. A few nations may start earlier, it’s likely, probable, that we may have some knowledge by going early into some countries,” she said without refining.

“But then the preponderance, the bulk of the tranches would probably start going out in the second quarter of 2021.”

COVAX is co-led by the GAVI vaccines alliance, the WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).