On Monday, the World Bank introduced a new channel to allow developing countries to purchase COVID-19 vaccines collectively through the Covax facility. The Covax facility was set up to ensure access to vaccines for 92 developing territories with the cost covered by donors.
Covax is co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gavi vaccine alliance, and the coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. The Gavi chief executive Seth Berkley said in a statement that the financial mechanism will allow Covax to unlock additional doses for a subsidized rate and the middle-income countries.
The staggering imbalance in the global distribution of covid-19 vaccine doses has raged WHO. According to an AFP count, approximately 3.9 billion doses of Covid-19 are injected around the world in around 216 territories. Developed territories have administered 95.4 doses per 100 inhabitants. The figure stands at 1.5 doses per 100 people in 29 low-income countries.
The facility says they will make advanced purchases from vaccine manufacturers based on aggregated demand across countries while using money from the World Bank and other development banks. The Covax financial mechanism agreement aims to provide 430 million additional doses to fully vaccinate 250 million people. 92 countries will receive these doses between late 2021 to mid-2022.
