Oslo, June 2, (dpa/GNA) – Norway will provide 1 million coronavirus vaccine doses to poorer countries through the COVAX vaccine-sharing programme co-founded by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“There is an urgent need to vaccinate health care personnel and vulnerable groups in countries with weaker health care systems,” said the minister for development aid, Dag-Inge Ulstein, in a statement on Wednesday.
Norway has previously passed on AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine options to Covax, bringing the total amount of Norwegian contributions to now stand at 1.7 million doses.
Prime Minister Erna Solberg announced last month that she intends to transfer 5 million doses through COVAX as part of the international pandemic response.
COVAX last week appealed to wealthy countries to donate more vaccines, saying 190 million doses were needed by the end of June.
GNA