COVID-19 Coronavirus: EU supporting low- and middle-income countries with €500 million for vaccines. Urpilainen (Commission), “it is a moral imperative”

Once again, the European Union is taking action to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income people in 92 African, Asian and Eastern European countries, by contributing €500 million to the multilateral initiative COVAX. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has today approved €400 million financing, guaranteed by the European Fund for Sustainable Development, and an additional €100 million will come from the European Commission This will enable us to “accelerate global efforts to bring the pandemic under control and scale up distribution of a successful vaccine as soon as it becomes available”, a statement from the Commission reads. Vaccines will be procured and delivered by UNICEF and the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) on behalf of COVAX, the world’s facility set up to ensure fair and universal access to vaccines. Team Europe has so far allocated more than €850 million to COVAX, which makes the European Union COVAX’s biggest donor. According to Jutta Urpilainen, Commissioner for International Partnerships, “it is a moral imperative that no country should be excluded from access to COVID-19 vaccines because of costs”.

 
Andrea Regimenti