The World Bank and the Covax system have created a new financing mechanism that will allow 250 million people in poor countries to be vaccinated by mid-2022, according to a joint statement released.
This new financing mechanism should enable the 92 member countries of the Covax system – a partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO), the Immunization Alliance (GAVI), and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) aimed at ensuring more equitable access to covid-19 vaccines – the poorest, to purchase additional doses in addition to the quota already fully funded by donor countries, the statement said.
“Access to vaccines is the greatest challenge facing developing countries to protect their populations from the health, social and economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic,” said World Bank President David Malpass.
For now, vaccination inequality between rich and poor countries is the norm.
To date, the 29 poorest countries have only been able to administer 1.5 doses per 100 inhabitants, while rich countries have administered 95.4 doses per 100 inhabitants, according to data from the French news agency AFP.
Disadvantaged countries that already have World Bank-approved vaccination plans will be able to confirm their desire to purchase these extra doses with Covax, the type of vaccine, and the delivery schedule.
Once a particular country is informed of its plan, the World Bank can provide Covax with a payment guarantee, and with the World Bank’s guarantee, “Covax can negotiate large volumes of anti-covid vaccines with manufacturers at competitive prices,” the statement said.
This mechanism will enable the 92 most disadvantaged countries participating in the Covax system to obtain an additional 430 million doses, or enough to vaccinate 250 million people between the end of 2021 and mid-2022. They will also be able to choose which vaccine they prefer, the statement said.
The Covax system has so far only managed to provide just over 135 million doses to 136 countries, a far cry from its original goals, partly because rich countries have seized the available vaccine doses, but also because India – which was supposed to provide most of the doses – banned exports several months ago to fight the pandemic there.
