The World Bank and COVAX revealed on Monday their financing mechanism intended to speed up the supply of COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries, where vaccination rollouts are occurring at a significantly slower rate than in wealthier nations. This plan will see COVAX, the global vaccine distribution program, accept advance purchases of vaccines at competitive rates. This model will operate according to the aggregated demand of the developing countries involved.
This plan will provide developing countries with access to additional COVID-19 vaccine doses on top of those fully subsidized orders that they are already receiving.
World Bank President David Malpass made the following observation with regards to the new initiative: “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.”
According to figures from Our World in Data, the countries that will be eligible to participate in this plan have inoculated on average just 1.1% of their population. This is in comparison to the global average of 26.9%.
The task of vaccinating large numbers of people across the globe remains a priority, especially with health experts warning that new variants are due to emerge as time elapses.
