WHO plans Covid-19 vaccine insurance for poor nations

A vaccine scheme co-led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) is setting up a compensation fund for people in poor nations who might suffer any side-effects from Covid-19 vaccines, aiming to allay fears that could hamper a global rollout of shots.

The mechanism is meant to avoid a repetition of delays experienced a decade ago during the H1N1 swine flu pandemic when inoculations were slowed down in dozens of low-income countries because there was no clear liability.

The scheme is being set up by the promoters of the Covax vaccine facility, which is co-led by the WHO and GAVI, a global vaccine alliance, a Covax document published on Thursday said. Covax aims to distribute at least two billion effective shots around the world by the end of next year...