By Haruna Gimba
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has announced a deal to distribute the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, potentially before the end of March.
According to statement posted on WHO’s website, the agreement is on behalf of the COVAX platform, primarily for developing nations, set up by the UN health agency.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance.
“This supply agreement allows UNICEF to procure up to 40 million doses that have been secured under the COVAX Facility’s Advance Purchase Agreement with Pfizer/BioNTech to be available throughout 2021,” the statement said.
The Pfizer-BioNTech jab was the first to receive WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL) on December 31, 2020.
“It requires ultra-cold chain storage facilities which UNICEF has secured with partners to support governments in their roll-out of a variety of COVID-19 vaccines,” it said.
