The Union will provide half a billion euros to buy vaccines for the poorer countries of the world

The Union will provide half a billion euros to buy vaccines for the poorer countries of the world

The European Union will provide a financial contribution of € 500 million to ensure equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine for the benefit of millions of economically less developed countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific, as well as for citizens of the EU's Eastern and Southern Neighborhood. Funding will go to the COVAX global vaccination initiative. With this move, the EU wants to accelerate global efforts to bring a new type of coronavirus under control. The distribution of a successful vaccine outside the Union will start as soon as it is available. The Commission clarified that the European Investment Bank had on Tuesday approved loans of € 400 million to support COVAX's commitments to the world's poorer countries. The funding guaranteed by the European Sustainable Development Fund, together with a financial contribution from the European Commission in the form of grants of EUR 100 million, will support access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in a total of 92 low- and middle-income countries. To date, the Union has allocated more than € 850 million to the COVAX program, making it the largest donor in the field. In this context, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that joint support from the European Commission and the EIB would make up to a billion doses of vaccine available to citizens from poorer countries through COVAX. Vaccines will be procured and supplied on behalf of COVAX by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).