The 2022 Break COVID Now Summit, co-hosted by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance alongside the governments of Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, and Senegal saw world leaders come together to reaffirm support for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and act urgently to break COVID.
Today’s #breakCOVID Summit raised an incredible US$4.8 billion for the Gavi #COVAX AMC! A huge thank you to each and every donor, speaker and partner who joined us to strengthen the world’s collective response to #COVID19: https://t.co/sB13nDYriA pic.twitter.com/q6CL7aaRPG
— Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (@gavi) April 8, 2022
With Germany, Indonesia, and Senegal holding Presidencies in the G7, G20, and AU respectively, the Summit represented an affirmation of the international community’s support for COVAX’s multilateral approach to vaccine equity. The event also successfully secured commitments valued at US$ 4.8 billion for the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), the mechanism which supports equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for lower-income countries.
These commitments mean a total of US$ 1.7 billion in new sovereign donor pledges towards the 2022 AMC fundraising ask, as well as US$ 2.1 billion worth of commitments via new innovative financial mechanisms provided by the EIB and the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and least US$ 1 billion made available by three multilateral development banks (MDBs) – World Bank, Asian Development Bank and European Investment Bank (EIB).
The commitments made will enable COVAX to provide urgent delivery support for lower-income countries and ensure dose donations can be shipped and administered. They have also enabled Gavi to launch the Pandemic Vaccine Pool to support future procurement of new COVID-19 vaccines, on behalf of COVAX AMC participants, should they be needed.
Commitments from MDBs enable low-cost financing for these countries to purchase additional vaccines beyond those that are donor-funded.
New donor commitments made to The Gavi Covax AMC include:
- Japan, co-host of the 2021 AMC Summit, pledged US$ 500 million
- Germany, co-host of the Break COVID Now Summit, pledged EUR 400 million
- Canada pledged CAD 220 million
- Brazil pledged US$ 86.7 million
- European Commission EUR 75 million
- Australia pledged AUD 85 million
- Finland pledged EUR 2 million
- Iceland pledged ISK 250 million
- Luxembourg pledged EUR 1 million
- Vietnam pledged US$ 500,000
- Regional Government of Catalonia, Spain pledged EUR 290’000
- Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Spain pledged EUR 100’000
- Estonia pledged EUR 40,000
- Malta pledged EUR 40,000
- Workday Foundation pledged US$ 300,000
- CODE(RED) Campaign pledged US$ 200,000
- Other donors also pledged a total of US$ 122.6 million
The pledges made build on top of the commitments made at the 2022 One World Protected event, which launched the 2022 AMC Investment Opportunity on 19 January. A number of countries and groups expressed intention to make additional contributions to COVAX, including in support of the Pandemic Vaccine Pool but were unable to announce today due to their budgetary processes and the short timeline of this emergency appeal.
“We welcome this incredible show of global solidarity from so many stakeholders at a time when the world faces multiple challenges and extend thanks to all those who participated – particularly our co-hosts for helping galvanize international support,” said Prof. José Manuel Barroso, Gavi Board Chair. “This pandemic is not over: while gaps in coverage remain, it will continue to wreak havoc on individuals, communities, and economies. Achieving equity is the key to breaking COVID now. We cannot afford to wait and risk the virus undoing all the progress that has been made.”
Thanks to supporting from its donors, COVAX has been able to build the world’s most diverse portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines, shipping more than 1.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income countries to date and disbursing more than US$ 600 million in delivery support.
Funding for delivery support and ancillaries is urgently needed to help close the vaccine equity gap by helping countries more rapidly reach their national vaccine coverage targets. The Pandemic Vaccine Pool is an instrument aimed at securing equitable access to new vaccines in the future, such as variant-adapted vaccines, by ensuring resources are on hand to make instant down payments should the need arise.
Gavi and its partners announced several new innovative finance initiatives:
- The EIB committed an additional EUR 1 billion in front-loaded financing in support of the Gavi COVAX AMC.
- Gavi and the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) announced the new COVAX Rapid Financing Facility, which will make up to US$ 1 billion available to allow Gavi to rapidly monetize pledges to the COVAX AMC, maximizing the impact of these pledges by minimizing the waiting time for the corresponding funding to be made available.
- In partnership with MedAcess and the Open Society Foundations, a US$ 200m risk-sharing facility that will help countries access funds rapidly should they wish to procure additional vaccines at COVAX-negotiated prices through a cost-sharing mechanism.
H.E. Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor of Germany and G7 President, said: “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.”
H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana, said: “The world finds itself in a favorable position thanks to COVAX and the collective efforts of the international community under the leadership of the Chair of the Gavi Board, José Manuel Barroso. In spite of this, many people still remain unvaccinated and unprotected, and in the event of another wave of infections or a mutation of the virus, these people will be at great risk. We, therefore, need to renew our commitment to support lower-income countries and support national COVID-19 vaccine objectives.”
