"COVAX has notified countries in Africa of the estimated dose allocation for the first phase of COVID-19 vaccine delivery. The global initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) aims to start shipping nearly 90 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the continent in February, in what will be Africa’s largest ever mass vaccination campaign," the WHO said in a statement.

The countries are required to submit their national deployment and vaccination plans to receive vaccines from the COVAX facility, the organization added.

"The initial phase of 90 million doses will support countries to immunize 3% of the African population most in need of protection, including health workers and other vulnerable groups in the first half of 2021," the statement read.

In total, up to 600 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines are set to be delivered to the continent by the end of 2021.

Apart from these 90 million doses, four African countries — Cabo Verde, Rwanda, South Africa and Tunisia — have already received 320,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, the WHO said.