On February 19, President Joe Biden announced the United States will provide an initial $2 billion contribution to the COVAX Facility to vaccinate people around the world. With this pledge, the U.S. will become the largest donor to COVAX, and in the coming weeks, Malawi expects to receive approximately 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility.
This U.S. assistance to expand Malawians’ access to vaccines adds to the United States’ $21.5 million (MWK16.67 billion) in support of the Government of Malawi’s fight against COVID-19, which has included technical and material support to boost the country’s capacity for testing, sanitation, and life-saving clinical care.
The initial U.S. $2 billion contribution will go to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), the innovative financing instrument of the COVAX Facility, which supports access to safe and effective vaccines for 92 low- and middle-income economies. The U.S. Ambassador to Malawi, Robert Scott, said “The United States continues to stand with Malawi in our common fight against COVID-19, as witnessed through our ongoing testing and clinical care support. We are proud that our $2 billion contribution to COVAX will assist millions of persons around the world to receive vaccines, including here in Malawi.”
The United States will also take a leadership role in galvanizing further global contributions to COVAX by releasing an additional $2 billion through 2021 and 2022, of which the first $500 million will be made available when existing donor pledges are fulfilled, and initial doses are delivered to AMC countries. In close cooperation with Gavi, this additional $2 billion in funding will serve to expand COVAX’s reach. We also call on our G7 and other partners to work alongside Gavi, to bring in billions more in resources to support global COVID-19 vaccination, and to target urgent vaccine manufacturing, supply, and delivery needs.
This U.S. contribution of $4 billion to Gavi is targeted to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, including for vaccine procurement and delivery. Of the funding, $3.5 billion will be provided to support direct vaccine procurement, and up to $500 million will be provided to support broader country readiness and vaccine service delivery, including logistics and cold chain support.
To date, other donors have pledged a total of $2.4 billion to the COVAX Facility. The United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, the European Commission, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and other donor governments and non-government organizations have also made significant pledges to date.