GENEVA: The World Health Organization is drawing up plans to help decide who should be prioritised for a vaccine against COVID-19 once an inoculation has been approved, its chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Thursday.

The framework to ensure "fair and equitable access" would give priority to three group: frontline workers such as medics and the police, vulnerable people over 65 years old or at higher risk due to illness, and those in higher-transmission settings such as meat factories, prisons or care homes, she said.