Story at a glance
- The Mastercard Foundation announced on Tuesday that it would donate $1.3 billion to bolster the fight against COVID-19 and vaccine inequalities in Africa.
- The foundation, which previously committed $40 million to boost testing across the continent, will distribute the funds over three years in partnership with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- The effort aims to secure more than 50 million vaccine doses for the continent.
The Mastercard Foundation announced on Tuesday that it would donate $1.3 billion to bolster the fight against COVID-19 and vaccine inequalities in Africa.
“Ensuring equitable access and delivery of vaccines across Africa is urgent,” Reeta Roy, the foundation’s CEO, said in a press release. “This initiative is about valuing all lives and accelerating the economic recovery of the continent.”
The foundation previously committed $40 million to boost testing across the continent, and will distribute the funds over three years in partnership with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The effort aims to secure more than 50 million vaccine doses for the continent.
“Ensuring inclusivity in vaccine access, and building Africa’s capacity to manufacture its own vaccines, is not just good for the continent, it’s the only sustainable path out of the pandemic and into a health-secure future,” John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC, said in the release.
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Africa CDC and the African Union aim to vaccinate 60 percent of the continent’s population by the end of 2022 in a vaccination campaign projected to cost at least $16 billion. So far, fewer than 2 percent of the continent’s population have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I think this is exactly the type of partnership that we had hoped to see — and that we need much more of,” Krishna Udayakumar, who leads Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Center, told The Washington Post. “We need to be putting billions to tens of billions of dollars in play to acquire vaccines, but to also enhance the delivery capacity and capabilities and to generate demand.”
Leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations are set to meet at the Group of Seven summit this week, where the handling of the coronavirus pandemic is expected to command discussion. President Biden announced last week that unused vaccine doses would be distributed across the globe in coordination with the vaccine sharing program COVAX. A White House statement detailing initial distribution states the U.S. intends to send 5 million of the doses to the African continent.
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