The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has asked for more donations to improve its reach in the distribution of COVAX COVID-19 vaccines.
Executive Director of the organisation, Henrietta Fore noted this at the virtual Dubai World Government Summit. She said the UNICEF is yet to reach its target and it is unlikely that they’ll distribute vaccines to most countries of the world this year.
She added that the UNICEF plans to distribute as much as 2bn doses of vaccines, including 1.3bn doses to low-income countries but requires more money to achieve the target.
Part of the funds will help strengthen the health systems in some of these nations and ease the distribution of the vaccines there.
As requested by some African governments, Fore urged vaccine producers to grant licence to local pharmaceutical companies that my be interested in local production of vaccines.
The Egyptian government has been vocal about the need to have such licences while countries like South Africa, Morocco, Nigeria also fancy the options of boosting local vaccine production.