Bill Gates Pledges Extra $50m for COVID-19 Vaccines for Nigeria, Others

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a $50 million
commitment to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

The pledge will support COVID-19 vaccine purchase through Gavi’s
COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) as well as delivery of these
vaccines to Nigeria and 91 lower-income countries.

The announcement builds on $156 million in previous commitments
by the foundation to the COVAX AMC. The foundation’s total
commitment to the COVID-19 response is now more than $1.8
billion.

The pledge was announced at Gavi’s COVAX AMC Summit, an event
co-hosted by the government of Japan and Gavi that gathered world
leaders, the private sector, civil society, and technical partners
to build support to procure COVID-19 vaccines and equitably
distribute them to lower-income countries.

“The world must urgently come together to expand equitable
access to COVID-19 vaccines, or we risk more deaths and the
emergence of new variants that could prolong the pandemic for
everyone,” said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation.

“Thanks to today’s contributions, especially Japan’s generous
pledge and its leadership in global health, we’ve taken an
important step towards that goal. This summit is a powerful example
of what can be achieved when we act collectively to control the
pandemic and save lives.”

The foundation urged high-income countries to share at least 1
billion excess COVID-19 vaccines with lower-income countries as
soon as possible.

High-income countries have reserved more COVID-19 vaccines than
they need, and thus can be part of a critical effort to accelerate
global vaccine access by sharing excess doses, without compromising
their own vaccination efforts.

This will allow lower-income countries to immunise hundreds of
millions of health workers and at-risk people this year—saving
lives, reducing the risk of new variants emerging, and helping
control the pandemic.

The funding and dose sharing commitments from donors is expected
to accelerate equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines to fill an
immediate need for vaccine doses in lower-income countries.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a $50 million
commitment to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

The pledge will support COVID-19 vaccine purchase through Gavi’s
COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) as well as delivery of these
vaccines to Nigeria and 91 lower-income countries.

The announcement builds on $156 million in previous commitments
by the foundation to the COVAX AMC. The foundation’s total
commitment to the COVID-19 response is now more than $1.8
billion.

The pledge was announced at Gavi’s COVAX AMC Summit, an event
co-hosted by the government of Japan and Gavi that gathered world
leaders, the private sector, civil society, and technical partners
to build support to procure COVID-19 vaccines and equitably
distribute them to lower-income countries.

“The world must urgently come together to expand equitable
access to COVID-19 vaccines, or we risk more deaths and the
emergence of new variants that could prolong the pandemic for
everyone,” said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation.

“Thanks to today’s contributions, especially Japan’s generous
pledge and its leadership in global health, we’ve taken an
important step towards that goal. This summit is a powerful example
of what can be achieved when we act collectively to control the
pandemic and save lives.”

The foundation urged high-income countries to share at least 1
billion excess COVID-19 vaccines with lower-income countries as
soon as possible.

High-income countries have reserved more COVID-19 vaccines than
they need, and thus can be part of a critical effort to accelerate
global vaccine access by sharing excess doses, without compromising
their own vaccination efforts.

This will allow lower-income countries to immunise hundreds of
millions of health workers and at-risk people this year—saving
lives, reducing the risk of new variants emerging, and helping
control the pandemic.

The funding and dose sharing commitments from donors is expected
to accelerate equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines to fill an
immediate need for vaccine doses in lower-income countries.