The UNICEF on Monday announced that it will lead the procurement and supply of coronavirus vaccine, to ensure safe, fast, and equitable access to the initial doses. With this, UNICEF will join the initiative ‘COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility’, or COVAX, which aims to provide worldwide access to an effective vaccine.

“This is an all-hands on deck partnership between governments, manufacturers and multilateral partners to continue the high-stakes fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director in a statement.

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UNICEF will undertake these efforts in close collaboration with WHO, Gavi, CEPI, PAHO, World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other partners. The COVAX Facility is open to all countries to ensure that no country is left without access to a future COVID-19 vaccine.

“UNICEF is the world’s largest single buyer of vaccines for diseases like measles and polio, procuring over 2 billion doses on behalf of nearly 100 countries each year. Thanks to our supporters, we now have the experience and expertise to deliver a COVID19 vaccine to the world,” the organisation tweeted.

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Last week, the United States had announced that it won’t be a part of COVAX as it is led by ‘corrupt WHO.’

“The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China,” White House spokesperson Judd Deere said in a statement.