COVAX to Distribute 237 Million AZ Vaccine Doses by End of May

As the global COVAX vaccine-sharing program ramps up distribution, the organization has announced plans to deliver 237 million doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine to 142 nations by the end of May.

COVAX said it will split the deliveries into two different schedules with one occurring in February and March and the other encompassing April and May.

The global initiative is operated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, with COVAX launching vaccine distributions in late February starting with India, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. Each nation received doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by either the UK-based drugmaker or the Serum Institute of India, which has a license to produce the vaccine.

COVAX also plans to deliver 1.2 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine during this quarter.