Covax has pledged $112 million for COVID-19 vaccines for Afghanistan -health official

KABUL, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization's COVAX programme has pledged $112 million for COVID-19 vaccines to reach 20% of Afghanistan's population, an Afghan health official said on Tuesday.

Afghanistan's Deputy Health Minister Waheed Majroh told journalists it was going to take six months to get the vaccines but authorities were in discussions to get them earlier.

The COVAX programme is a global scheme to vaccinate people in poor and middle income countries against the coronavirus. It aims to deliver at least 2 billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021 to cover 20% of the most vulnerable people in 91 poor and middle-income countries. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Andrew Heavens)