Nigeria urges vaccine to be available to all

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria called Tuesday for the "uninhibited supply of safe and effective coronavirus vaccines for all."

He was addressing the United Nations Generally Assembly.

Buhari warned that if the United Nations can't marshal an inclusive response to the pandemic, then it "would have failed in its core mission of giving expression, direction and solution to the yearnings of the international community."

African nations have been outspoken in seeking the equitable distribution of any COVID-19 vaccine while watching anxiously as some of the world's richest countries strike deals with pharmaceutical companies to secure millions of doses of potential vaccines.

The U.N.'s health agency, the World Health Organization, has said Africa should receive at least 220 million doses through an international effort to develop and distribute a vaccine known as COVAX.

But Africa's top public health official has said the continent needs at least 1.5 billion doses, enough to cover 60% of the population for "herd immunity" with the two likely required doses.

Buhari also said that nations must "redouble" their counterterrorism efforts, noting its own fight against the Boko Haram group.