By Getrude Matayo
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Covid-19 vaccine may be ready by the end of this year. Who Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this in his closing remarks to the global agency’s board on Tuesday, without revealing details.
He called for solidarity and political commitment by all leaders to ensure equal distribution of vaccines when they become available.
The comment from the WHO Chief cane even as drugmakers and scientists all over the world are racing against time to develop a safe, effective vaccine against Covid-19.
According to the report, nine experimental vaccines are in the pipeline of the WHO-led COVAX global vaccine facility that aims to distribute two million doses by the end of 2021.
So far, some 168 countries have joined the COVAX facility but neither China, the United States nor Russia are among them. The Trump admiration has said it is relying instead on bilateral deals to secure supplies from vaccine makers.
“We will need a vaccine and there is hope that by the end of this year we may have a vaccine. There is hope” Tedros said in final remarks to the WHO’s Executive Board without elaborating Reuter, reported.
The two-day board meeting, which examined the global response to the pandemic, heard calls from countries including Germany, Britain, and Australia for reforms to strengthen the UN agency, said the report.
“We hope to get real lessons that we can implement and prevent the same thing from happening. But I would like to assure you that WHO is ready to learn from this and change this Organisation. During our transformation we promised this, we promised to keep the change as a constant,” Tedros added.
Kenya will pay about Sh200 per dose of the coronavirus vaccine and donors the balance of Sh100. Each dose costs a maximum Ksh 300 and experts say two doses are likely to be required.
The cost-sharing decision was announced by Gavi, the Geneva-based Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation. It is leading a program to secure Covid-19 vaccines for developing countries.
Gavi said cost-sharing would promote country ownership of the vaccine access program and motivate support from new donors such as development banks.
Kenya will also benefit from a Ksh 15 billion donation, shared among 92 developing countries, to help with the distribution. At least nine vaccine candidates, if successfully registered, will be supported through the access program called the Covid-19 Vaccines Advance Market Commitment (Covax AMC).
READ: Covid-19 Dose To Cost 300 Shillings Once Ready