Gates Foundation pledges $50 million to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced a $50 million commitment to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The pledge will support COVID-19 vaccine purchasing through Gavi’s COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) as well as delivery of these vaccines to 92 lower-income countries.
The pledge was announced at Gavi’s COVAX AMC Summit, an event co-hosted by the government of Japan and Gavi that gathered world leaders, the private sector, civil society, and technical partners to build support to procure COVID-19 vaccines and equitably distribute them to lower-income countries.
“The world must urgently come together to expand equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, or we risk more deaths and the emergence of new variants that could prolong the pandemic for everyone,” said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Thanks to today’s contributions, especially Japan’s generous pledge and its leadership in global health, we’ve taken an important step towards that goal. This summit is a powerful example of what can be achieved when we act collectively to control the pandemic and save lives.”