**WHO Director-General welcomes ACT-A’s new data showing 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines delivered to low-income countries**
GENEVA, 30 June 2022 – Today the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, welcomed the announcement from the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator that over 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have now been delivered to low- and middle-income countries through COVAX, the global vaccine equity mechanism.
“This is an important milestone in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr Tedros. “But we still have a long way to go to achieve our goal of vaccinating 70% of the world’s population by mid-2023.”
COVAX is a global initiative co-led by WHO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which aims to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level.
The 1 billionth dose was delivered to Rwanda on Wednesday, 29 June 2022. Rwanda is one of the countries that has made the most progress in vaccinating its population against COVID-19, with over 80% of the population now fully vaccinated.
“Rwanda is a shining example of how countries can use COVAX to protect their populations against COVID-19,” said Dr Tedros. “I urge all countries to follow Rwanda’s lead and invest in COVAX to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to these life-saving vaccines.”
COVAX has now delivered vaccines to 145 countries, and has helped to protect millions of people from COVID-19. However, there is still a significant gap in vaccine coverage between rich and poor countries. While over 70% of people in high-income countries are now fully vaccinated, only around 15% of people in low-income countries are fully vaccinated.
“We need to close this gap urgently,” said Dr Tedros. “We cannot end the pandemic anywhere until we end it everywhere.”
The WHO is calling on all countries to invest in COVAX and to donate vaccines to the mechanism. COVAX is the only global mechanism that is working to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to COVID-19 vaccines.
“We cannot afford to let COVAX fail,” said Dr Tedros. “We must work together to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to these life-saving vaccines.”.
