WHO chief urges more countries to join COVAX as death toll exceeds 1 mln

One million people are confirmed to have lost their lives to COVID-19, but "the real number is certainly higher", World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a high-level United Nations event on Wednesday. Tedros, addressing the New York event from Geneva, said that 167 countries have now joined the WHO-led COVAX global vaccines facility, representing 70% of the world's population, adding: "And the list is growing every day".

COVAX aims to deliver at least 2 billion doses of approved vaccines by the end of 2021 and to ensure “equitable access”.