AstraZeneca becomes the first vaccine to be given emergency approval by the World Health Organization for the COVAX initiative.
The distribution of vaccines to the poorer country has kicked off after the WHO issued emergency approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday.
The lower and middle-income countries can expect to receive the first deliveries of their vaccine by the end of February as part of the procurement program.
WHO hopes to deliver 2 billion doses by the end of the year, of which 336 million doses to be delivered in the first half of the year.
Due to the requirement of ultra-cold storage technology the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been unsuitable for the poorer countries.
The AstraZeneca vaccine will be produced by the Serum Institute o India, mainly which has agreed to produce 1.1 billion doses for the delivery.
COVAX is a cooperative vaccination program aimed at ensuring global access to coronavirus vaccines for every boy, especially to economically poorer countries.
198 countries and territories have been part of the COVAX initiative. The 92-lowest-income countries will receive the vaccines as donations.
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