an initiative by SEEK Development
Commentary
0 min read
Written by
Charlotte Schmidt
Published on
April 12, 2022
Despite restrictions being lifted in many high-income countries, cases of COVID-19 are rising around the world, especially in areas where much of the population remains unvaccinated. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres pointed out at the ‘2022 Gavi COVAX AMC Summit: Break COVID Now', hosted on April 8, 2022, “We are far from our target of every country reaching 70% vaccination coverage by the middle of this year.”
COVAX is the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A). ACT-A is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the World Health Organization (WHO), alongside its key delivery partner the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). COVAX has delivered 1.2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses globally; however, more funding is needed to ensure the delivery of vaccines to lower-income countries and to help prepare the world for the unknown impacts of potential new variants.
At the virtual advanced market commitment (AMC) Summit, donors mobilized a total of US$4.8 billion to replenish COVAX. Although this funding falls short of the US$5.2 billion goal, it nonetheless constitutes an “incredible show of global solidarity”. Donors demonstrated that global health and ending the COVID-19 pandemic are still a high priority, despite Russia’s war on Ukraine and its dominance over global policy agendas. Gavi expects the US$400 million funding gap could still be filled; the short runup to this emergency appeal meant that some donors were unable to announce pledges at the event. With Russia’s war on Ukraine dominating the global agenda, donors demonstrated that global health and ending the COVID-19 pandemic are still a high global priority.
The Summit was co-hosted by Germany (G7 President), Ghana, Indonesia (G20 President), and Senegal (African Union chair). German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is leading Germany’s new coalition government (in power since December 2021), is following in Angela Merkel’s footsteps by continuing to show Germany’s leadership in global health. At the event, he reaffirmed: “The global fight against the pandemic will be high on the agenda of the German G7 presidency. It’s important not just to look after ourselves, but to ensure that the rest of the world is vaccinated too.”
Gavi aimed to raise at least US$5.2 billion in urgent financial support for COVAX**.** Of this, US$3.8 billion was to be allocated to Gavi in support of lower-income countries’ COVID-19 relief efforts.
In addition, COVAX aimed to mobilize US$400 million for vaccine delivery for UNICEF and US$1 billion for cost-sharing raised by multilateral development banks based on country demand.
Be the first to know. Get the latest in development news, right in your inbox.
The Donor Tracker team and network of in-country experts help advocates drive sustainable impact with regular Policy Updates, data-driven analyses, and the most important news in the world of development.
By clicking Sign Up you're confirming that you agree with our Terms and Conditions .
an initiative by SEEK Development
The global community pledged a total of US$4.8 billion. Of that, new sovereign donor pledges totaled US$1.7 billion.
In mid-January of 2022, Dr. Seth Berkley, chief executive officer at Gavi, said at a press conference “We right now are basically out of money.” This demonstrates just how vital the US$4.8 billion raised at the Gavi COVAX AMC Summit on Friday is to replenishing the funds needed to ensure the swift rollout of donated doses to the countries and people who need it most. With only around 15% of the population in low-income countries having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, COVAX still has an important role to play in helping to balance the glaring global inequities in vaccine allocation and distribution. Despite the lifting of pandemic regulations at home and competing demands of other global crises such as the war in Ukraine, the show of solidarity demonstrated by donors at the Gavi COVAX AMC Summit offers some hope that donor governments are continuing to prioritize global health. It seems like a long time ago that world leaders were rallying around the call that “no one is safe until everyone is safe”, however, it continues to be the truth and we still have a long way to go in ensuring this pandemic ends the world over.
Official Summit PM: https://www.gavi.org/news/media-room/world-leaders-commit-us-48-billion-help-break-covid-now
Stream of the Event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLWTVo1J-Aw
US$ conversions come from official announcements from Gavi and donors themselves.
Interested in commissioning analysis in financing or development tailored for your organization’s specific needs?
The Donor Tracker team and network of in-country experts help advocates drive sustainable impact with regular Policy Updates, data-driven analyses, and the most important news in the world of development.
Charlotte Schmidt
Be the first to know. Get the latest in development news, right in your inbox.
The Donor Tracker team and network of in-country experts help advocates drive sustainable impact with regular Policy Updates, data-driven analyses, and the most important news in the world of development.
By clicking Sign Up you're confirming that you agree with our Terms and Conditions .
an initiative by SEEK Development
SEEK Development
The Donor Tracker is an initiative by SEEK DevelopmentContact
SEEK DevelopmentCotheniusstrasse 310407 BerlinGermany