First vaccines delivered under global Covax scheme

By AFP 24 February 2021, 6:08 pm Edit

Ghana becomes the first country to receive vaccines from the global Covax scheme, paving the way for poorer nations to catch up with inoculation drives in wealthier parts of the world to stamp out the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 217 million vaccine doses have been administered globally, according to an AFP tally, though the vast majority have been given in high-income countries.

The head of the World Health Organization applauds the first delivery of the Covax vaccines with an enthusiastic tweet.

Airport workers transport a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from the Covax global vaccination program, at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana on February 24, 2021 (Nipah Dennis / AFP)

“At last!” posts WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “A day to celebrate, but it’s just the first step.”

The WHO is one of several organizations behind Covax, which aims to deliver at least two billion doses globally by the end of the year.