More than 150 countries engaged in COVID-19 vaccine global access facility

  • Date: 26-Jul-2020
  • Source: Middle East Business
  • Sector:Healthcare
  • Country:GCC
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More than 150 countries engaged in COVID-19 vaccine global access facility

More than 150 countries engaged in COVID-19 vaccine global access facility

Seventy-five countries have submitted expressions of interest to protect their populations and those of other nations through joining the COVAX Facility, a mechanism designed to guarantee rapid, fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.

The 75 countries, which would finance the vaccines from their own public finance budgets, partner with up to 90 lower-income countries that could be supported through voluntary donations to Gavi's COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC). Together, this group of up to 165 countries represents more than 60% of the world's population. Among the group are representatives from every continent and more than half of the world's G20 economies.

"COVAX is the only truly global solution to the COVID-19 pandemic,“ said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. ""For the vast majority of countries, whether they can afford to pay for their own doses or require assistance, it means receiving a guaranteed share of doses and avoiding being pushed to the back of the queue, as we saw during the H1N1 pandemic a decade ago.  Even for those countries that are able to secure their own agreements with vaccine manufacturers, this mechanism represents, through its world-leading