26 August 2020 - UNICEF Australia welcomes the Australian Government’s AUD$80m contribution to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a global initiative that will guarantee rapid, fair and equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for developing countries and the world’s poorest children and families.
COVAX is the vaccines part of a global collaboration led by the Global Vaccines Initiative (GAVI), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) (which UNICEF is a part of) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The initiative aims to ensure doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed equitably when high-income, self-financing countries such as Australia pay for their own doses, and for developing countries that would otherwise be unable to afford to pay for the vaccine.
UNICEF will lead the procurement for the COVAX Facility, managing procurement for low- and lower middle-income countries. “It’s vital that this contribution makes the most of its intention to protect frontline workers and the most vulnerable, and ultimately help bring the Covid-19 pandemic to an end. The impacts of this health crisis on children are immense and the longer it continues the more severe and long-term its effects. Across the Pacific and Southeast Asia this will not only save children’s lives but ensure they reach their fullest potential when supplementing existing and already funded aid and development programs,” said Felicity Butler-Wever, Director International Programs, UNICEF Australia.
27 August 2020