World’s first doses of Covax jabs rolled out

Almost a year after the World Health Organization (WHO) had first described the coronavirus as a global pandemic, a flight carrying 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India landed in Ghana’s capital Accra.

Agencies

Local representatives of the WHO and the United Nation’s children’s agency Unicef described the vaccines’ “momentous” arrival as a critical step in bringing the coronavirus pandemic to an end. (AFP)

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) global vaccine-sharing scheme Covax delivered its first Covid-19 shots on Wednesday, as the race to get doses to the world’s poorest people and tame the pandemic accelerates.

Almost a year after the WHO had first described the coronavirus as a global pandemic, a flight carrying 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India landed in Ghana’s capital Accra.

Local representatives of the WHO and the United Nation’s children’s agency Unicef described the vaccines’ “momentous” arrival as a critical step in bringing the coronavirus pandemic to an end.

The delivery of vaccines comes eight months after the launch of the Covax international initiative, which is aimed at pooling funds from wealthier countries and non-profits around the world to develop a coronavirus vaccine and then distribute it equitably around the world.

MEPs call for global access to Covid vaccines

A total of 114 Members of the European Parliament have called on the European Commission and the European Council in a declaration not to block the TRIPS waiver at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and to support global access to Covid-19 vaccines.