White House announces $4 billion in funding for Covax, the global vaccine effort that Trump spurned

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Thu, 2021-02-18 18:36 — mike kraft

White House announces $4 billion in funding for Covax, the global vaccine effort that Trump spurned The announcement comes as France's Macron calls on wealthy nations to donate 5 percent of their vaccine supply to developing countries. Emily Rauhala, Erin Cunningham, Adam Taylor Washington Post

The White House is throwing its support behind a global push to distribute coronavirus vaccines equitably, pledging $4 billion to a multilateral effort the Trump administration spurned.

At a Group of Seven meeting of leaders of the world’s largest economies Friday, President Biden will announce an initial $2 billion in funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to be used by the Covax Facility, senior administration officials said in a briefing.

The United States will release an additional $2 billion over two years once other donors have made good on their pledges and will use this week’s G-7 summit to rally other countries to do more.

The money, which was appropriated by a bipartisan congressional vote last year, will give a much needed boost to a program jointly led by Gavi, the World Health Organization and the Center for Preparedness Innovations.

Public health experts often say that unless everyone is vaccinated, it is as if no one is vaccinated. One of the officials, who spoke anonymously to preview the president’s announcement, noted that the move was also in the interest of international security for the United States to help with efforts abroad to diminish the impact of the pandemic.

Countries like India and China are already using the coronavirus vaccine as a diplomatic tool; both are giving away doses to other nations in an effort to expand their global influence. The United States has yet to do the same, although the officials said that if it reached a point where it had surplus doses of vaccine — which seems likely by the fall — the Biden administration intends to donate them to countries in need.

But, an official said, the United States will not be able to share vaccines now, while the American vaccination campaign is still continuing to expand.

The international vaccine effort, known as Covax, has been led by the public-private health partnership known as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, as well as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the World Health Organization. It aims to distribute vaccines that have been deemed safe and effective by the W.H.O., with a special emphasis on to low- and middle-income countries.

The White House officials said the money would be delivered in several tranches: an initial donation of $500 million the near future followed by another $1.5 billion to be delivered in the near term. The remaining $2 billion will delivered by the end of 2022. ...

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