GHA  will be represented at this conference by its chairman.

Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) Summit

COVAX has now delivered over 1.2bn doses of multiple vaccine products to 92 lower-income countries supported by the Gavi COVAX AMC. This is an important milestone, which has been made possible thanks to early and continuous support from our partners in the form of funding, dose donations, and rapid action.

As we enter a new phase and seek to build upon the baseline of progress made, supply must be more adaptable and flexible to meet the range of countries’ needs. Some parts of the world have achieved high coverage rates. In these places, hospitalizations have been contained, death rates have plummeted, and economies have been able to reopen. Yet the most vulnerable continue to be left behind and high-risk populations remain unprotected. Low-income countries continue to have the lowest absorption rates, and consequently, the lowest coverage.

Since COVID-19 has been declared as a pandemic by WHO, a new variant has been detected approximately every 4 months, and public health recommendations have continuously evolved. The next variant could easily be much more dangerous than the last. The world must act now, to respond to implementing countries needs and support leadership ambitions to increase capacity and hit national targets. The world must act now to build on the progress made and ensure people everywhere, regardless of income level, can begin to walk the same path to recovery as those in higher income countries, and the World must act now to protect ourselves from the potential risks posed by future evolutions of the pandemic.

We need to complete the effort we started to support countries in building the response to the pandemic. This starts with accelerating efforts to strengthen delivery systems with catalytic funding to rapidly increase absorption capacity and providing flexible funding to respond to risks should they arise. To get there, we must urgently secure new funding for the Gavi COVAX AMC in 2022 to strengthen countries’ delivery systems, finance essential costs to accompany dose donations and establish a flexible financing pool to respond to risks and uncertainties. Preparing for the future challenges of this pandemic is the first step to enhance preparedness for future pandemics.