The WHO has written to every country urging them to quickly join its global shared vaccine programme — and spelled out who would get its eventual coronavirus jabs first, according to AFP.

WHO chief Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that without vaccinating the planet's highest-risk populations simultaneously, it would be impossible to rebuild the global economy.

And he said the most exposed 20 per cent of each country's population — including frontline health workers, adults over 65 and those with pre-existing conditions — would be targeted in the first wave of vaccinations, once the WHO-led Covax shared facility can roll out a proven safe and effective vaccine.

“The fastest way to end this pandemic and to reopen economies is to start by protecting the highest risk populations everywhere, rather than the entire populations of just some countries,” Tedros told a virtual press conference.