Nobody should panic about getting access to a Covid-19 vaccine because everyone who wants one will get one, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
The WHO’s assistant director-general Mariangela Simao said the UN health agency was working towards ensuring access to coronavirus jabs all around the world.
“No one needs to panic, because you’re going to get a vaccine,” said Simao, the assistant DG for access to medicines, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals.
“We’ve been working very hard to ensure that all countries, all populations, do have the opportunity to access these vaccines,” she told a WHO social media to live event.
Simao said that around 50 countries have started vaccination campaigns, with more than 40 of them being high-income states.
The WHO co-led Covax facility, a globally-pooled vaccine procurement, and distribution effort, has struck agreements with five manufacturers for two billion vaccine doses.
It aims to secure vaccines for 20 percent of the population in each participating country by the end of the year, with funding covered for the 92 lower- and lower-middle-income economies involved.
“We are expecting to have the first doses reaching countries end of February,” Simao said.
