Covax aims to deliver 150 million Covid vaccine doses to poor countries by the end of March

German Chancellor Angela Merkel backs initiative that seeks to provide fair access to inoculation

A nurse prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the Croix Rousse Hospital in Lyon, France. AFP

Health workers wait to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, in Pamplona, northern Spain. AP Photo

A doctor checks an elderly woman before he injected her with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the vaccination center at the Metropolis-Halle events center in Potsdam, Germany. EPA

People queue for a Covid-19 vaccination at a vaccination hub at Guys Hospital in London, England. Getty Images

Mr. Stuessi receives a vaccine as his wife sits beside at the vaccination reference center at the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. Reuters

A healthcare worker prepares a syringe with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the Villa Scassi Hospital in Genoa, Italy. EPA

Nursing home workers wait their turn to be vaccinated with Pfizer-Biontech COVID-19 vaccines at the Ange-Raymond Gilles care home in Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, near Liege, Belgium. AP Photo

Netherlands' Health Minister Hugo de Jonge applauds after healthcare worker Sanna Elkadiri, second right, received the first shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine at a mass vaccination center in Veghel, Netherlands. AP Photo

A vaccination centre in the terminal of Rostock-Laage Airport in Large, Germany. AP Photo

Police stand by as people wearing face masks queue to get access to the vaccination center at the 'Arena' in Berlin's Treptow district in Germany. AFP

The Covax vaccination alliance hopes to deliver 150 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to some of the world's poorest countries in the first quarter of the year, the World Economic Forum's Davos 2021 summit heard on Tuesday.

Dr Seth Berkley, chief executive of the public-private global health partnership Gavi vaccine alliance, which is co-leading the drive, announced a target of another 500 million doses to be distributed in the following quarter.

That would be followed by 1.5 billion doses in the second half of the year.

Covax, which comprises 190 countries and the World Health Organisation, is an initiative to promote equitable access to vaccines and deliver two billion doses to countries most in need by the end of 2021.

Dr Berkley told the virtual discussion that the development of Covax "shows the importance of solidarity because we're only safe if everyone's safe".

Once the alliance is able to gain regulatory approval, it hopes to distribute the vaccine as widely as possible.

Dr Berkley said: “Obviously, right now there’s a little bit of a global vaccine panic and many countries want doses as of today, and we’re doing the best we can to move this forward.”

He said Covax was formed on the back of circumstances surrounding 2009’s swine flu pandemic, when a small number of countries bought the all available vaccines.

Dr Berkley also highlighted the importance of continuing with research and development as the pandemic continues its assault on the world’s population.

"You really want to keep R&D going, and that's critical right now because we want second generation vaccines that are more temperature stable, that are single dose," he said.

“But of course, for the new variants we may need to ultimately make some changes in vaccines.”

Also speaking at the virtual WEF discussion was Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, who called for a fairer distribution of vaccines, which she said provide a route out of the pandemic.

“Money is one thing, but the other thing in a time of scarcity is the availability of the vaccine. Here it’s about a fair distribution and not about a question of money," she said.

“This is why I’m so pleased Gavi is leading the negotiations.

"Let's not kid ourselves, the question of who gets which vaccine in the world will of course leave new wounds and new memories, because those who get such emergency help will remember that."

She championed the need for greater multilateralism, while calling on wealthier countries to do all they could to support global vaccination efforts.

"It has become even clearer to me than it was before that we need to choose a multilateral approach, that a self-isolating approach won't solve our problems.

"We see that first of all in the question of vaccination, since it is the route out of the pandemic," she said.

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