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 The World Health Organization is urging wealthy countries to donate
their surplus doses to poorer countries instead of giving them to
less vulnerable groups, such as children, and they have so far
donated 150 million doses via the COVAX sharing scheme.
However, Bruce Aylward said on Friday that only a small portion of
those doses will be available in the short-term in June, July and
August when they can make a difference in slowing the pace of
infections in the global pandemic.
"We are going to need twice that much and it's got to be brought
forward," he said, referring to the size of wealthy country
donations so far as G7 health ministers meet in Oxford. "We are
setting up for failure if we don't get early doses."
He praised a U.S. plan announced on Thursday to quickly share 25
million doses and encouraged other wealthy countries to follow suit.
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 Aylward estimated that Indian
vaccine export disruptions and delays in getting
other vaccines online meant that the COVAX
sharing scheme had a gap of around 200 million
doses.
India's Serum Institute has diverted AstraZeneca
supplies to the domestic market amid a
devastating second wave in India and is expected
to lift those restrictions in the fourth quarter
when other products earmarked for COVAX are also
due online.
"All of that is going to arrive at the same
time," said Aylward.
(Reporting by Emma Farge and Stephanie Nebehay,
Editing by Ros Russell)
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