COVAX

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COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by the GAVI vaccine alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the World Health Organization (WHO), alongside key delivery partner UNICEF. It is one of the four pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, an initiative begun in April 2020 by the WHO, the European Commission, and the government of France as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVAX coordinates international resources to enable low-to-middle-income countries equitable access to COVID-19 tests, therapies, and vaccines.^[1] UNICEF is the key delivery partner, leveraging its experience as the largest single vaccine buyer in the world and working on the procurement of COVID-19 vaccine doses, as well as logistics, country readiness and in-country delivery.

By 19 October 2020, 184 countries had joined COVAX.^[2]

COVAX began distributing vaccines in February 2021. Though COVAX promised 100 million doses by the end of March,^[3][4] this goal was not reached until 6 July.^[5] By mid-August 2021, COVAX delivered 200 million vaccine doses to nearly 140 countries instead of the 600 million doses initially projected. The continued shortage of COVID-19 vaccines delivered through COVAX is blamed on "vaccine nationalism" by richer nations, and the diversion of 400 million Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses, produced under license by the Serum Institute of India (SII), for domestic use in India.^[6] As of April 2022, more than 1.4 billion doses were delivered, when the largest recipients were Bangladesh (183 million doses), Pakistan (112 million) and Indonesia (104 million).^[7]