LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th February, 2021) UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab hailed on Wednesday as an "important milestone" the start of COVID-19 vaccine delivery to poor countries via the COVAX facility, a global initiative aimed at equitable access to immunization led by the Vaccine Alliance.
"Today is an important milestone, with @Gavi announcing the start of vaccine delivery to the world's poorest. As one of the biggest donors to #COVAX, the UK is helping to provide over a billion vaccine doses so that no country is left behind in the global fight against #COVID19," Raab wrote on Twitter.
Ghana became the first country on Wednesday to receive a batch of free anti-coronavirus vaccine doses through the COVAX initiative.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which leads COVAX together with Gavi and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, said the shipment of 600,000 AstraZeneca doses was the first step in immunizing the West African nation of 30 million.
The UK, which has given 540 million Pounds ($761 million) to COVAX and secured more than 400 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for a population of only 66 million people, has pledged to donate most of its surplus vaccine supply to poorer countries.
COVAX aims to ship close to 2 billion doses of vaccines by the end of 2021, in an unprecedented global effort to guarantee access to vaccines for all.
Last week, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres described the global COVID-19 vaccine rollout as "wildly uneven and unfair," after pointing out that only 10 countries have administered 75 per cent of all vaccinations, while more than 130 have not received a single dose.
