In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gavi faces an unprecedented situation. Billions of dollars that it raised back in 2022 for COVAX the global effort to provide COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income countries remain unspent. These resources are substantial, exceeding the entire annual budget of the World Health Organization (WHO) and are three times the amount allocated to the World Bank-managed Pandemic Fund. However, there is a lack of clarity about how much is remains unspent and a lack of transparency regarding the decision-making process and trade-offs associated with different options to spend this money.
COVID vaccines must work even better, whether by becoming variant-proof, finding other administration routes, or finding different targets to attack. All of these issues – and more are under investigation.