Vaccine rollout to airport workers officially began yesterday with the Egyptian Airports Company lining up doses for its employees through the Health Ministry, according to MENA. National flag carrier EgyptAir had also started inoculating its staff members a few days earlier, starting with “frontline” employees who are most frequently exposed to passengers. The move comes as part of a wider push to vaccinate tourism workers. The Health Ministry has said it plans to have vaccinated all workers in the sector before the summer season begins.

The Health Ministry reported 1,140 new covid-19 infections yesterday, on par with 1,149 the day before. Egypt has now disclosed a total of 256,124 confirmed cases of covid-19. The ministry also reported 49 new deaths, bringing the country’s total death toll to 14,807.

The World Health Organization is suffering a funding shortfall of over 70% that threatens to leave the organization “in real imminent danger of being unable to sustain core functions for urgent priorities,” Reuters reports, citing a statement by Executive Director of WHO Health Emergencies Program Mike Ryan to health ministers yesterday. The WHO is seeking nearly USD 2 bn to fund its covid-19 response plan.

Could WHO funding shortages affect Covax? The WHO’s Covax scheme — designed to provide vaccines to low- and middle-income countries — has already been running behind schedule, delivering less than half of the 170 mn vaccines previously envisioned. This is largely due to an export ban by Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine manufacturer the Serum Institute of India, which looks set to last till late this year as the country struggles to contain a spike in its local covid infections.

Between supply shortages and underfunding, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that WHO boss Tedros Ghebreyesus’ goal of getting 30% of the world’s population vaccinated by the end of the year will be met.