COVID19: World Bank partners COVAX on vaccine access for developing countries

The World Bank has partnered with COVAX to accelerate COVID vaccine supply for developing countries through a new financing mechanism that builds on Gavi’s newly designed AMC cost-sharing arrangement.

David Malpass, the World Bank president, announced this in a statement on Monday.

The new financing model allows AMC countries to purchase doses beyond the fully donor-subsidised doses they are already receiving from COVAX.

Also COVAX will now be able to make advance purchases from vaccine manufacturers based on aggregated demand across countries, using financing from the World Bank and other multilateral development banks.

This would help participating developing countries to have greater visibility of available vaccines, quantities available, and future delivery schedules, enabling them to secure doses earlier, and prepare and implement vaccination plans more effectively.

The World Bank president said, “Accessing vaccines remains the single greatest challenge that developing countries face in protecting their people from the health, social, and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This mechanism will enable new supplies and allow countries to speed up the purchase of vaccines.

“It will also provide transparency about vaccine availability, prices, and delivery schedules. This is crucial information as governments implement their vaccination plans.”

The statement added that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank had deployed over $157 billion to fight the health, economic, and social impacts of the pandemic, the fastest and largest crisis response in its history.

Speaking on the new partnership, Seth Berkley, chief executive officer, Gavi, the vaccine Alliance, said  “This important and timely financing mechanism, made possible now by the World Bank and Gavi teaming up on the AMC cost-sharing arrangement, will allow COVAX to unlock additional doses for low-and middle-income countries.

“As we move beyond initial targets and work to support countries’ efforts to protect increasingly large portions of their populations, World Bank financing will help us advance further towards our goal of bringing COVID-19 under control.”

The scalable mechanism brings together COVAX’s ability to negotiate advance purchase agreements with vaccine manufacturers with the World Bank’s ability to provide predictable financing to countries for vaccine purchase, deployment and broader health systems investments. The new mechanism will mitigate risks and uncertainties in country demand and financing ability.