The World Health Organisation yesterday approved Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, paving the way for an additional 500mn doses to enter the Covax global vaccine-sharing scheme.
“Every new, safe and effective tool against Covid-19 is another step closer to controlling the pandemic,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
The news comes after the single-dose jab won approval from the European Union on Thursday.
It has also received the green light from regulators in the United States, Canada and South Africa.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the United States, Australia, Japan and India pledged to work closely on Covid-19 vaccine distribution, climate issues and security after a meeting yesterday.
The world on Thursday marked one year since the coronavirus threat was declared a pandemic, with vaccinations offering hope but much of humanity still enduring highly restricted lives and no clear path back to normality.
More than 2.6mn people have now died from the virus, a staggering toll unimaginable before the virus swept the globe – subjecting most of humanity to restrictions of some form and eviscerating the global economy.
Today, countries are hoping vaccines will clear the path to a return to normal, but the rollout has been uneven globally, with demand far outstripping supply.
In some countries, it was hard to see the glimmer of hope offered by vaccines.
Hotspot Brazil on Wednesday reported a record 2,286 deaths in a single day as more contagious new variants fuel a surge there.
“It took a long time for the politicians to act...we are paying for it, the poor people,” said Adilson Menezes, 40, outside a hospital in Brazil’s biggest city Sao Paulo.
But across the Atlantic in Europe, some governments were moving towards lifting punishing restrictions.
France said it would ease travel restrictions from seven countries – including the UK – while Portugal was set to peel back some of its anti-virus measures later Thursday.
Since first emerging in China at the end of 2019, the coronavirus has infected nearly 118mn people, with no corner of the globe left untouched.
The WHO officially declared Covid-19 a pandemic on March 11 last year as infection numbers were beginning to explode across Asia and Europe.
The only defences to the contagious virus then appeared to be face masks and stopping people from interacting.
Global aviation came to a standstill and governments imposed deeply unpopular restrictions, forcing billions of fearful people into some form of lockdown.
“We are on a war footing,” Corinne Krencker, the head of a hospital network in eastern France told AFP on March 11 last year, as patient and death numbers began to surge.
At the same time, governments and scientists launched the race to create vaccines — research and development that would take place at an unprecedented, breakneck pace.
Today, several shots are being rolled out, including those developed in the United States, Germany, China, Russia and India.
More than 300mn vaccine doses have been administered in 140 countries, according to an AFP count.
The global vaccine rollout has also exposed power and wealth divides.
Rich nations have surged ahead with their mass vaccination programmes, while billions in poorer nations are still waiting to receive shots.
Hope for a worldwide push has been boosted by the launch of deliveries under the WHO-backed Covax scheme, which aims to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.