World Health Organization unveils plan for distributing coronavirus vaccine, urges cooperation

Under the plan, rich and poor countries pool money to provide manufacturers with volume guarantees for a slate of vaccine candidates. The idea is to discourage hoarding and focus on vaccinating high-risk people in every participating country first.

Covax, which launched in June, needs support from richer countries. So far, 64 higher-income countries have signed up, WHO officials said, but added that 38 more are expected to do so in the coming days. Notably missing: China and the United States.

China has not made an announcement either way. The White House said this month that the United States would not join, in part because the administration doesn’t want to work with the WHO, and will instead take a go-it-alone approach. ...

A new proposed allocation framework, published Monday, addresses a question critical to every country: Once there’s a safe and effective vaccine, how do you divvy it up?

The WHO’s answer is a two-phase plan that will be closely studied and assessed.

In the first phase, doses will be distributed proportionally, meaning each participating country will get doses for a share of its population: 3 percent to start, then up to 20 percent.

If supply is still limited after the 20 percent threshold is met, the allocation method will switch. In Phase 2, Covax will consider each country’s covid-19 risk level, sending more doses to countries at highest risk. ...