Global alliance says money will help fight measles and polio as well as Covid-19
The global vaccine alliance Gavi says it will be able to immunise 300 million children after world leaders promised $8.8 billion to the initiative.
Funding—equivalent to €7.7bn—was promised at a UK-hosted Global Vaccine Summit 2020 on 4 June. Gavi says it will provide for vaccinating children against measles, polio and other diseases as well as strengthening health systems around the world to cope with Covid-19.
The European Commission used the summit to promise €300 million to Gavi for 2021-25. “This will help us overcome this pandemic and avoid another,” said Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
On the same day, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations announced a deal with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to secure 300 million doses of a potential Covid-19 vaccine. Cepi will invest up to $383 million to ensure manufacturing, mainly in Europe, of the AZD1222 vaccine candidate being developed at the University of Oxford in the UK.