Washington:
US has so far contributed $2 billion to GAVI for COVAX facility, a worldwide danger-sharing mechanism for pooled procurement and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
The facts about the contribution was shared by Jeremy Konyndyk, Executive Director of the USAID COVID-19 Task Force on Friday in a specific briefing of US Department of State.
“We have given, so far, $2 billion to GAVI for the COVAX Initiative, the COVAX platform, which is facilitating equitable distribution of vaccines around the world,” stated Mr Konyndyk.
US in total had pledged $4 billion to COVAX, out of which $2 billion so far has been contributed. A total of $500 million will go to assistance nation readiness as not each and every nation often has the facilities and the infrastructure to conduct a vaccination system on this scale, Mr Konyndyk stated.
“The vaccine donations that we announced yesterday are going to play an important role in helping Gavi to manage some of the supply gaps that it has been facing due to tight global supply of vaccines,” Mr Konyndyk added.
On Thursday, the US had announced that it will allocate the very first tranche of 25 million COVID-19 vaccines globally to address prospective surges and the requires of the most vulnerable nations impacted by the pandemic, which includes India.
Sharing the framework for the distribution of 80 million vaccines, the White House press statement stated that 75 per cent of vaccine share will be offered by means of COVAX even though 25 per cent share for quick requires and to assistance with surges about the world.
Based on this framework, the United States plans to send our very first tranche of 25 million doses. Nearly 19 million will be shared by means of the COVAX initiative.
As several as seven million vaccines will be shared with Asian nations which includes India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan.
Approximately six million will be offered to South and Central America. Nearly 5 million doses will be offered to Africa. As several as six million will be targeted toward regional priorities and companion recipients, which includes Mexico, Canada, and the Republic of Korea.
The White House statement stated that the sharing of millions of US vaccines with other nations signals a key commitment by the US government.
Stressing on the value of COVAX facility, Mr Konyndyk stated: “We see GAVI and the COVAX platform as really, really important partners in this vaccine effort, and their ability to do global distribution and the sort of logistics infrastructure, the legal and regulatory agreements that they have with countries around the world, are a huge asset, and they’ll be a critical partner for us in this.”
“So, we’re supporting them both with the doses that are being announced this – have been announced this week, but also with $2 billion that we contributed to them back in March, and additional future funding that will be – that we’ll be releasing to them over the coming year,” added Mr Konyndyk.
US will also be investing heavily in nation readiness to distribute and administer vaccines. Earlier this year, US had place $75 million across many nations.
“We will be putting considerably more money into that in the months ahead under – with some of the funding that USAID received under the American Rescue Plan,” Mr Konyndyk stated.
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