In a report delivered by the UNICEF, about 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be shipped and flown to developing countries next year in a "mammoth operation", the United Nations children's agency UNICEF said on Monday, as world leaders promised to ensure the fair distribution of vaccines.
UNICEF stated it was working with more than 350 airlines and freight entities to deliver vaccines and 1 billion syringes to poor countries like Burundi, Afghanistan and Yemen as part of COVAX, a global COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan with the World Health Organization (WHO). This precious collaboration will go a long way to ensure that enough transport capacity is in place for this historic and mammoth operation, said the director of UNICEF's Supply Division, in a statement.
COVAX - co-led by GAVI vaccine group, the WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations - aims to discourage governments from hoarding COVID-19 vaccines and to focus on first vaccinating the most at risk in every country.
It is significant to note that Drugmakers and research centers worldwide are racing to develop COVID-19 vaccines, with large global trials of several of the candidates involving tens of thousands of participants well underway. Pfizer Inc and BioNTech could secure emergency U.S. and European authorization for their COVID-19 vaccine next month after final trial results showed a 95% success rate and no serious side effects.
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