Key Facts: World Bank Group Vaccine Announcement
COVID-19 vaccines, alongside widespread testing, improved treatment and strong health systems are critical to save lives and strengthen the global economic recovery. To provide relief for vulnerable populations, low- and middle-income countries need fair, broad, and fast access to effective and safe vaccines.
That s why the World Bank (WB) is building on its initial COVID-19 response with $12 billion to help poor countries purchase and distribute vaccines, tests, and treatments. The first WB-financed operation to support vaccine rollout was approved in January 2021.
As of May 11, the World Bank has approved vaccine projects in 20 countries amounting to more than $2 billion. We expect to reach 50 countries amounting to $4 billion by mid-year. The countries with approved vaccine projects so far are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cabo Verde, Cote d Ivoire, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Honduras, Lebanon, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal,
POLITICO
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Helping the rest of the world get vaccinated isn’t just a humanitarian issue it’s a national security imperative.
A health care worker inoculates a woman with a Covid vaccine at a district hospital in the outskirts of New Delhi on April 22, 2021. | Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Getty Images
By MARK MCCLELLAN, KRISHNA UDAYAKUMAR, MICHAEL MERSON and GARY EDSON
04/28/2021 03:32 PM EDT
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Mark McClellan directs the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, is a former FDA commissioner and CMS administrator, and is an independent member of the Board of Directors of Johnson & Johnson.
Unlocking the Power of the Private Sector to Build Resilient and Equitable Health Systems
Nurse preparing a vaccination at the Meshwalekiya health center in Kirkos, Ethiopia. (Photo: World Bank Group-Michael Tsegaye) Across the Global Financing Facility’s (GFF) 36 partner countries, there has been up to a 25 percent drop in coverage of essential health interventions, hitting women, children and adolescents the hardest. Global supply chains have also been disrupted, affecting the provision of medicines, contraceptives, and crucial protective equipment for frontline health workers.
Governments responded swiftly to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, but health systems are still under strain. While strengthening the public health sector delivery capabilities and domestic resource mobilization remains a priority, private providers also play a key role in serving a sizable proportion of the population in many low- and middle-income countries.