A global effort to develop and equitably distribute a coronavirus vaccine that has been snubbed by the United States will reserve 220 million doses for the African continent to ensure it is not left behind, the World Health Organization said Thursday. Richard Mihigo, the head of immunization and vaccination for WHO’s African office, said that the doses should cover 20 percent of the continent’s people and would be distributed to each country on the basis of population size. Priority would be given to front-line health-care workers, followed by the elderly and those with preexisting conditions. “In the past we Africans have ended up in the back of the queue for vaccines and we have to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Mihigo said in an online briefing. Trump has criticized the body for being too “China-centric.”

Source: Washington Post September 03, 2020 04:17 UTC