The United States and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) applaud new partner commitments announced at this morning’s “One World Protected” event to accelerate global access to COVID-19 vaccines, including more than $300 million in financial contributions as well as in-kind donations including millions of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine doses to be shared by COVAX. Hosted by the U.S. and Gavi, today’s event launched a two month investment opportunity to accelerate the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to 92 low- and middle-income economies through the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment.
The United States Government has already contributed an initial $2 billion to Gavi in support of COVAX – the largest single country contribution COVAX has received to date – and will contribute an additional $2 billion through 2022
During today’s event, Secretary Blinken and USAID Acting Administrator Gloria Steele applauded other countries who have made and delivered pledges and urged all partners to do more to end the pandemic. The United States recognizes that as long as COVID-19 is spreading and generating new variants anywhere, it poses a threat to people everywhere. Secretary Blinken expressed that in addition to our planned contributions to Gavi totaling $4 billion, the United States is prepared to provide further assistance to support the global COVID response. He called on partners to work alongside Gavi to support urgent vaccine manufacturing, supply, and delivery needs. The Secretary’s full remarks can be found here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iekNlBPu4s] and here: [https://video.state.gov/].
The “One World Protected” virtual event convened world leaders, the private sector, the vaccine industry, civil society, and other COVAX partners to launch the new COVAX Investment Opportunity. Presentations took stock of progress to date to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines made the investment case for contributions to COVAX, and encouraged countries and the private sector to make new commitments and galvanize additional resources.
COVAX is an initiative co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization (WHO), with the goal to equitably deliver safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines on a global scale. To learn more about Gavi, the COVAX AMC Investment Opportunity and to see a list of pledges, visit the “One World Protected” event page. [https://www.gavi.org/gavi-covax-amc-launch-event-april-2021]
