The European Union will double its contribution to the COVAX vaccination initiative with an additional amount of USD 606 million

The President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, will announce this Friday an increase of 606 million dollars in support of the COVAX initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) to ensure global access to the vaccine against the coronavirus, which doubles the funding it had granted so far to this alliance promoted by public and private actors.

European sources told the news agency EFE that Von der Leyen will report this increase Virtual summit of G7 leaders, which will take place this Friday under the Presidency of the United Kingdom, as well as a additional aid of $ 120 million to help distribute the vaccine in Africa.

With this increase, the total European Union contribution to Covax will reach $ 1.2 billion.

The United States will also announce at the summit an immediate donation of $ 2 billion for the development and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines around the world, and an additional $ 2 billion in the coming months.said a senior US official.

Also, the President of the United States, Joe Biden will call on the world’s major economies, gathered at the G7, to follow his example and “contribute billions of additional dollars in resources to support the global coronavirus vaccination campaign”, the White House reported in a statement sent to the agency EFE.

The North American country joined the COVAX platform at the end of January, created to promote equitable access to vaccines, and has now decided to challenge the main world economies. to stimulate efforts to distribute them around the world.

International cooperation in the face of the coronavirus pandemic will be the theme of the meeting, which will have the first shares of Joe biden as President of the United States, Mario draghi at the head of the Italian government and Yoshihide Suga as Prime Minister of Japan.

The leaders will also discuss the challenge posed by international trade. For the European Union, it is a priority reform of the World Trade Organization.

This will be the first virtual G7 meeting under the UK’s rotating presidency ahead of the leaders’ summit next June in Cornwall, south-east England.

(With information from EFE)

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