Gavi Receives $400 Million in Donations at High-Level Event To Expand Global Access to COVID-19 Vaccines

In a vital step forward that will help accelerate global access to COVID-19 vaccines, Gavi, the vaccine alliance raised some $400 million in donations at a high-level event on Thursday, just a week after the global COVAX facility reached 100 countries with almost 40 million vaccine doses.

The event was hosted by US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Acting Administrator of USAID Gloria Steele, and Chair of the Board of Gavi José Manuel Barroso, and saw pledges from Sweden, Netherlands, Lichtenstein and Portugal, as well as big donations from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates Philanthropy Partners, and Google.

“COVAX represents our best way of ending the pandemic by ensuring equitable global access to safe and effective vaccines,” said Per Olsson Fridh, Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation. “Already reaching over 100 countries, COVAX also shows what we can achieve by working together – from scientists and manufacturers to governments and multilateral organizations, to health workers around the globe. This is an investment not only in global solidarity, but also in our common objective of putting an end to the pandemic. 

The bulk of the money will go towards Gavi’s Advanced Market Commitment, which UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore called a beacon of hope.

“It’s [the AMC] an effective, realistic way to ensure fair and affordable access to vaccines for all,” she said at the high-level event on Thursday. “But getting vaccines off the tarmac and delivered to difficult-to-reach populations requires concerted, coordinated effort and dedicated funding,” said Fore.

On another encouraging note, France and New Zealand committed to donating 13 million and 1.6 million surplus doses to COVAX –  although Gavi expects “much larger” donations of suprlus doses in the future, added GAVI’s CEO Seth Berkley on Thursday.

So far, COVAX has supplied 113 countries with over than 39.5 million vaccine doses, according to UNICEF’s COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard. The global vaccine facility has already enabled access to the following vaccines:

  • AstraZeneca/Oxford (via AstraZeneca and India’s Serum Institute) – up to 1.27 billion doses
  • Pfizer-BionTech – 40 million doses
  • Johnson & Johnson – 500 million doses
  • Novavax – 1.1 billion doses
  • Sanofi/GSK – 200 million doses

Read Gavi’s full press release here.

Image Credits: Global Fund/Vincent Becker.

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