Also Read - Patent-free Covid-19 vaccines: Yunus’ petition gets 1 million signaturesNew agreements announced on Friday include an advance purchase agreement with AstraZeneca for 170 million doses, and a memorandum of understanding for 500 million doses from Johnson & Johnson. The group is also in talks with Moderna, which expects to have its Covid-19 vaccine approved shortly, he said. Getting vaccine doses to poor countries is a huge challenge, with wealthy countries determined to vaccinate their entire populations as quickly as possible. Also Read - 25% people globally may not get vaccines until 2022The WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday's announcement of extra Covid-19 vaccine doses for Covax was "fantastic news and a milestone in global health". GAVI's Chief Executive Seth Berkley said the goal of providing global, equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines was "alive and well".

Source: Dhaka Tribune December 18, 2020 14:48 UTC