The COVAX coronavirus vaccine sharing scheme has allocated at least 330 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for poorer countries in the first half of 2021, the GAVI vaccine alliance said on Wednesday.
The allocation includes an initial 240 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India, an additional 96 million doses of the same shot made by AstraZeneca, plus 1.2 million doses of Pfizer -BioNTech'S COVID-19 vaccine.
Publishing an interim distribution plan, the COVAX Facility, which is co-led by GAVI, the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the U.N. Children's Fund, said doses would cover an average of 3.3% of total populations of 145 participating countries.
COVAX said the allocations would be subject to various caveats, including WHO emergency listing and countries' readiness and acceptance.
(This story corrects number of vaccines allocated in first tranche)
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Kate Kelland; Editing by Toby Chopra)
