Ensuring global equitable access to COVID-19 health supplies: UNICEF's role in ACT-A/COVAX

All over the world, children's lives have been interrupted by COVID-19 while the pandemic has spread.

UNICEF has stood by the most vulnerable children working to safeguard their education, nutrition and essential health services.

Now, together with partners in the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator and COVAX, UNICEF is working to ensure countries have safe, fast and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines when the initial doses become available.

But unless we protect health workers, children can't access lifesaving services and will fall even further behind.

Right now, UNICEF distributes more than two billion routine vaccines every year.

With our systems and expertise, we can double that in the world's largest and fastest procurement and supply of vaccines.

We are stockpiling syringes and aiming to deliver one billion syringes in 2021 for the COVID-19 vaccine injections and making sure there is the cold chain to preserve the vaccine.

We are training health workers and strengthening systems so that every investment made today builds a better tomorrow.

Unprecedented times demand extraordinary actions.

Together, we can do this.