COVAX aims to give out 2 billion vaccine doses next year, with priority given initially to healthcare workers as it promises a "fair and equitable" distribution.

Aurelia Nguyen, managing director of the COVAX facility, said it is hoped a vaccine will be ready by early in 2021 and with few doses to start with, they will be given where they will have most "impact."

COVAX is an initiative, co-led by the World Health Organization, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI), who are working to help the development, production and equal access to coronavirus vaccines

The COVAX facility specifically will be getting hold of promising vaccines to ensure the "best possible prices, volumes and timing for all countries."

Nguyen said: "We are going to be in a very constrained environment in terms of supply. So the doses are going to start to come through, but to begin with we are going to have very limited doses of vaccines and so what we need to do is make sure that the vaccines that are available are going to the areas where they are going to have the most impact.

"For me, that is around making sure that we protect the vital infrastructure, the healthcare workers ... making sure that the little supply we have in the beginning is used to the best effect."

After that, Nguyen said COVAX can look at other factors that will determine distribution. There is concern around the world that when the vaccine is rolled out, priority will be given to wealthier countries.

"Over time, as we see that more vaccines are successful in terms of development, there may be different vaccines that have different characteristics that are more suited for certain geographic conditions or certain populations in terms of age and then we can apply the vaccines to the best use depending on the context," continued Nguyen.

With the pandemic having struck around the world, the scale of the vaccine distribution will be on a level never before done.

"The pandemic is affecting all countries and we are going to need a very, very large amount of vaccines. The COVAX facility that I represent, we are aiming to get 2bn doses out during the course of 2021. That is a scale of production that is also quite unprecedented," said Nguyen.

Equally challenging will the equal distribution of the vaccine.

"We want the vaccine to be reaching everybody at the same time in a fair and equitable manner and there are many hurdles in terms of getting the distribution right, making the supply chain work, getting the healthcare workers trained, so we can roll out the vaccine as widely and as quickly as possible," added Nguyen.