237 million dozes of COVID-19 vaccines will be allocated to 142 countries by end May through the World Health Organization's (WHO) COVAX facility, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom said on Thursday.

He confirmed that COVAX had supplied vaccines to various countries mostly in Africa including Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, The Gambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Cambodia and Colombia.

"And we must remember that the first round of allocations covers between 2 and 3 percent of the population of countries receiving vaccines through COVAX, while other countries progress towards vaccinating their entire population within the next few months," said Tedros in his remarks at Member States Information Session on COVID-19.

"Countries are not in a race with each other, this is a common race against the virus."

The WHO chief reiterated plans to ensure COVID-19 vaccination drives started in all countries globally in the next 37 days.

He also took the opportunity to call for more treatment options for all phases of the disease.