World: COVAX crosses milestone of 500 million donated doses shipped to 105 countries

• 31 countries have contributed to the effort, which accounts for nearly half of COVAX’s total shipments of over 1.1 billion doses — of which more than a billion have been distributed to lower-income economies supported through the Gavi Advance Market Commitment (Gavi COVAX AMC)

• Prof. José Manuel Barroso, Board Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance: “The COVAX dose donation programme has played an important role in helping us ship over 1.1 billion doses to 144 countries. We now celebrate the milestone of 500 million donated doses shipped. We thank Team Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, New Zealand, Iceland and Hong Kong SAR, China for supporting COVAX’s goal of equitable access to life-saving COVID-19 vaccines.”

Geneva, 4 February 2022 — Over half a billion COVID-19 vaccines donated by high income countries have now been shipped to COVAX participating economies. The milestone, which was reached nine months after the first dose donations in April 2021 has seen the participation of 31 donors and benefited 105 countries.

• A full list of dose donations and pledges can be found here.

Donations gained speed at a time when global supply was severely constrained, and have played a major role in COVAX’s effort to ensure all countries have access to life-saving vaccines, accounting for nearly half of the 1.1 billion doses now delivered to participating economies (over 1 billion of those doses have gone to lower-income economies eligible for vaccines through the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment, or Gavi COVAX AMC). Over 95% of the donated doses have been shipped to lower-income economies eligible for vaccines through the Gavi COVAX AMC, with over 45% shipped to the African continent. The design and operationalization of the COVAX dose sharing mechanism is being supported by a contribution of CAD 5 million from Canada.

Without dose donations, balanced across 4 suppliers, hundreds of millions of people would still be waiting for their first COVID-19 vaccination. As COVAX seeks to help all countries meet their national vaccination objectives in 2022 through tailored support, donations will continue to play an important role in our efforts.

“The COVAX dose donation programme has played an important role in helping us reach over 1.1 billion doses delivered to 144 countries. We now celebrate the milestone of 500 million donated doses shipped,” said Prof. José Manuel Barroso, Board Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “We thank Team Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, New Zealand and Hong Kong SAR, China for supporting COVAX’s goal of equitable access to life-saving COVID-19 vaccines.”

THE FULL LIST OF DOSE DONORS IS:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hong Kong SAR, China
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• United States

PER MANUFACTURER, COVAX HAS DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING DONATED DOSES:

• AstraZeneca — 140 million doses
• Johnson & Johnson — 137 million doses
• Moderna — 115 million doses
• Pfizer — 110 million doses

COVAX has funds and donated doses confirmed to achieve an average coverage level of 45% of the populations of 91 lower income economies by mid-2022 based on a two-dose vaccine regime. In order to ensure it has the flexibility to provide further assistance to countries, or respond to new needs, COVAX in January launched a call for at least an additional US$ 5.2 billion in new funding. The money is needed urgently to resource a rapid response mechanism to finance at least 600 million doses Pandemic Vaccine Pool for use as and when needed by AMC countries to respond to demand for doses for effective coverage against new variants or boosters against waning immunity, support countries’ readiness and delivery efforts and pay for costs associated with rolling out more donated doses.

• The Investment Opportunity, entitled Break COVID Now, can be read here.

“To control the COVID-19 pandemic, we must beat it in every part of the world,” said Dr. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. “As Team Europe we have been sharing safe and effective vaccines with the world, the large majority via COVAX. Over half a billion COVID-19 vaccines delivered through COVAX is an impressive milestone, but more is needed. We continue our collaboration with COVAX and vaccine manufacturers, with donors and recipient countries and with other delivery partners to ensure that vaccines are delivered and administered where they are most needed.”

“This pandemic requires global solutions,” underlined Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada. “Together with COVAX, we can accomplish what no one country could accomplish alone — ensuring vaccines are shared equitably with those who need them most. Canada will continue to work with the COVAX Facility and encourages all to join forces to get through this pandemic and build a future that is healthier and safer for everyone.”

“Angola welcomes dose donations as a practical solution to ensure that as many people as possible can access vaccines in every corner of the world as fast as possible,” stressed Dr Silvia Lutucuta, Minister of Health, Angola. “However, as deliveries ramp up, COVAX and donor countries must continue to work together to ensure countries receive a predictable supply of high-quality dose donations, with long shelf lives, to allow us to effectively plan our national vaccination campaigns and protect more lives.”

“Sharing the vaccine between countries has played a critical role in filling the vaccine supply gap and has helped Egypt and other countries enhance levels of vaccine coverage,” said Dr Hala Zayed, Minister of Health, Egypt. “We appreciate the support from COVAX and donor countries, and look forward to a continued partnership, as we work towards achieving greater levels of vaccine equity.”

To continue the work on dose donations, we are today publishing revised dose sharing principles that COVAX uses to guide the donation process with donors and manufacturers. These update the principles published in December 2020.

• You can find these principles here.

Notes to editors

About COVAX

COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, is co-led by CEPI, Gavi and WHO — working in partnership with developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers, UNICEF, PAHO, the World Bank, and others. It is the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both high-income and lower-income countries.

Gavi’s role in COVAX

Gavi leads on procurement and delivery at scale for COVAX: designing and managing the COVAX Facilityand the Gavi COVAX AMC and working with its traditional Alliance partners UNICEF and WHO, along with governments, on country readiness and delivery.

As part of this role, Gavi hosts the Office of the COVAX Facility to coordinate the operation and governance of the mechanism as a whole, holds financial and legal relationships with 193 Facility participants, and manages the COVAX Facility deals portfolio: negotiating advance purchase agreements with manufacturers of promising vaccine candidates to secure doses on behalf of all COVAX Facility participants. Gavi also coordinates design, operationalisation and fundraising for the Gavi COVAX AMC, the mechanism that provides access to donor-funded doses of vaccine to 92 lower-income economies. As part of this work, Gavi provides funding and oversight for UNICEF procurement and delivery of vaccines to all AMC participants — operationalising the advance purchase agreements between Gavi and manufacturers — as well as support for partners’ and governments work on readiness and delivery. This includes tailored support to governments, UNICEF, WHO and other partners for cold chain equipment, technical assistance, syringes, vehicles, and other aspects of the vastly complex logistical operation for delivery. Gavi also co-designed, raises funds for and supports the operationalisation of the AMC’s no-fault compensation mechanism as well as the COVAX Humanitarian Buffer.

About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation — over 888 million children — and prevented more than 15 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 lower-income countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation and reaching zero dose children remaining deprived of even a single vaccine shot still being left behind, employing innovative finance and the latest technology — from drones to biometrics — to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Gavi is a co-convener of COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, together with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO). In its role Gavi is focused on procurement and delivery for COVAX: coordinating the design, implementation and administration of the COVAX Facility and the Gavi COVAX AMC and working with its Alliance partners UNICEF and WHO, along with governments, on country readiness and delivery.

The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organizations that fund Gavi’s work here.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Evan O’Connell
+41 79 682 18 95
eoconnell@gavi.org

Meg Sharafudeen
+41 79 711 55 54
msharafudeen@gavi.org

Iryna Mazur
+41 79 429 3671
imazur@gavi.org

Laura Shevlin
+ 41 79 529 92 87
lshevlin@gavi.org

Cirũ Kariũki
+41 79 913 94 41
ckariuki@gavi.org

World: COVAX crosses milestone of 500 million donated doses shipped to 105 countries
Source: Philippines Legacy PH