A few weeks ago, on Feb. 24, Ghana received the world’s first delivery of the COVID vaccines from the COVAX initiative. The COVAX, or COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access initiative is a part of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) website, “The ACT Accelerator is a ground-breaking global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines.”

The reason why the COVAX vaccines are so important is because they will allow more people to get vaccinated immediately after the vaccines are available. This will then allow struggling economies to be rebuilt. Gavi, the co-leader of COVAX, claimed, “By joining COVAX, all participating countries and economies — regardless of their ability to pay — will have access to a portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines, once they are developed and proven to be both safe and effective.” This is great news for third-world countries who have been struggling with vaccine rollout.

Ghana is just one of the 92 countries that will be getting the vaccines for free because of the initiative. UNICEF’s regional director for West and Central Africa, Marie-Pierre Poirier, told The Associated Press, “The target for 2021 is 1.3 billion doses in the 92 countries, and up to 2 billion taking into consideration the other countries.” The goal is to get enough vaccinations shipped and administered for at least 20% of countries’ populations.

On March 1, the first COVAX vaccine doses were administered in Ghana and Africa, and on March 8, Afghanistan received the first shipment of vaccines, making them the first country in Central Asia to receive the vaccine through COVAX. According to the Gavi website, COVAX has shipped over 12 million COVID vaccines to 19 countries in 10 days. Other countries are underway administering the vaccine.

Since the U.S. recently rejoined the WHO, President Joe Biden pledged $4 billion in contributions to COAX, according to ABC News. According to the same article, the way the COVAX funding works is that richer countries buy in with more money to essentially pay for poorer countries. Getting vaccines available for everyone, everywhere has been a global effort. As the COVAX rollout continues, the higher percentage of people will be vaccinated, and the more the world may soon see a normal world again.