Germany and France announced that each country will donate up to 30 million COVID-19 vaccines to the Covax mechanism

Germany and France will each give “up to 30 million doses” of COVID-19 vaccines to the Covax program by the end of the year, aid mechanism for poor countries led by the World Health Organization (WHO).

“We are ready to donate 30 million doses to the poorest countries, to developing countries, by the end of the year, provided, of course, that the vaccines we order are delivered to us”, German Chancellor Angela said. Merkel in a press conference at the G20 World Health Summit in Rome.

Until now 125 countries have received nearly 70 million doses through the mechanism. “But we know that money is not everything, the vaccine must also be available,” warned the German leader. The administration of Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, announced that it would also deliver “at least 30 million doses of different vaccines” for Covax by the end of the year.

Covax’s operations have been delayed until 2021 after India, where the vast majority of vaccines initially committed to the mechanism are produced, decided to keep the vast majority of them to prioritize the national vaccination campaign given the dramatic increase in cases and deaths in the country.

While the logistics of donations from Germany and France have not been detailed, Covax will soon receive vaccines from the United States. The Joe Biden administration recently confirmed that it will increase the doses it will give to 80 million until the end of June, and indicated that “a substantial part” will be made by Covax.

US Government Global Pandemic Response Coordinator Gayle Smith He also said the country will increase funding for the program, in addition to the 2 billion USD it has already paid in recent months.

At the same time, the main manufacturers of covid-19 vaccines promised on Friday to produce 3.5 billion doses for poor countries. Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson pledged at the summit to donate 3.5 billion doses to the most disadvantaged countries between 2021 and 2022.

As they explained, this year around 1300 million doses will be provided and in 2022 the rest. Pfizer will supply 2 billion doses, Moderna “up to” 995 million and Johnson & Johnson “up to 500 million.”

Low-income countries will be able to buy them at cost price and middle-income countries at reduced prices, the laboratories said at the summit organized by Italy’s G20 presidency and the European Commission.

In addition, with the goal of vaccinating at least 40% of the world’s population by the end of the year and moving towards the end of the pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Friday proposed a plan with funding estimated at $ 50,000 million.

“Our proposal sets targets, assesses financing needs and defines pragmatic actions,” said Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF, at the same summit. The plan aims for at least 60% of the world’s population to be vaccinated by the end of 2022 to enable a sustainable global economic recovery.

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