LONDON: Seventy-six wealthy nations are now committed to joining a global Covid-19 vaccine allocation plan co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO) that aims to help buy and fairly distribute the shots, the project's co-lead said on Wednesday.

Seth Berkley, chief executive of the GAVI vaccines alliance, said the plan, known as COVAX, now has Japan, Germany, Norway and more than 70 other nations signed up, agreeing in principle to procure Covid-19 vaccines through the facility for their populations.

"We have, as of right now, 76 upper middle income and high income countries that have submitted confirmations of intent to participate - and we expect that number to go up," Berkley told Reuters in an interview.

"This is good news. It shows that the COVAX facility is open for business and is attracting the type of interest across the world we had hoped it would."