COVAX

More than 355,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines shipped by COVAX arrive in Niamey, the capital of Niger.
© UNICEF/Frank Dejongh

Vaccine equity the ‘challenge of our time’, WHO chief declares, as governments call for solidarity, sharing

16 April 2021
Health

With the number of new COVID-19 cases nearly doubling over the past two months, approaching the highest infection rate the world has seen during the pandemic, the unequal distribution of vaccines is not only a moral outrage, but economically and epidemiologically self-defeating, the head of the UN health agency told a special ministerial meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on Friday.

Older adults started to receive COVID-19 vaccines in Lima, Peru at the end of March 2021.
© UNICEF/Jose Vilca

COVID-19 equitable vaccine scheme reaches more than 100 countries and economies

8 April 2021
Health

More than 100 countries and economies have now received COVID-19 vaccines through the UN-partnered equitable coronavirus-busting scheme, COVAX.

AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines are delivered to Sri Lanka as part of the COVAX initiative.
© UNICEF

International equitable vaccine effort ships 32 million shots to 61 countries 

26 March 2021
Health

“COVAX works” the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, informing journalists that the UN-backed vaccine initiative has distributed more than 32 million vaccines to 61 countries in just one month.  

A health worker in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, becomes one of the first people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as part of the global rollout of COVAX in Africa.
© UNICEF/Milequem Diarassouba

‘We sink or we swim together’: 5 things you need to know about COVAX

1 March 2021
Health

COVAX has been trending in stories about the COVID-19 pandemic in recent days, particularly in relation to the shipment of vaccines to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the first to arrive in Africa. Here’s a UN News recap of what COVAX is, and why it is so important.