Global vaccine-sharing programme reaches milestone of 1 billion doses

FILE PHOTO: Biomedical engineers confirms a consignment of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines under the COVAX scheme against coronavirus disease (COVID-19), before distribution at the Kitengela cold rooms stores in Kitengela, outside Nairobi, Kenya March 4, 2021. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The COVAX global vaccine-sharing programme has delivered 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses, one of the organisations which manages it said on Saturday.

Supplies to poorer nations have long been very limited because of lack of vaccines, as wealthier states secured most of the doses initially available from December 2020.