ONE welcomes the EU’s doubling fund to COVAX vaccine sharing programme at the G7

The EU’s contribution together with Germany, Canada, Japan, and the US has more than doubled contributions to COVAX to $7.5bn

Brussels. The ONE campaign welcomes the EU and G7 leaders efforts today doubling contributions to the World Health Organisation COVAX programme to ensure global vaccines access. Announcements follow ONE Campaign recent findings that Australia, Canada, Japan, UK, and US, and the EU have already secured a total of over 3 billion doses of approved COVID vaccines, over 1 billion more than the 2.06 billion needed to give their entire populations.

Gayle Smith, CEO, and President of the ONE Campaign said:

“Good news out of today’s G7 leaders meeting – world leaders are finally waking up to the scale of this crisis. It’s astonishing that it took a year for this meeting to happen, but the commitments made today are significant, vitally important, and collectively signal a strong step in the right direction.

It beggars belief that in the midst of a global pandemic a handful of countries have accumulated over a billion vaccines more than they will need, while 130 countries have no vaccines at all. This imbalance isn’t just wrong, it’s inefficient and means that we are extending the lifespan of the pandemic – so long as the virus has ample room to spread and mutate anywhere we are unsafe everywhere. And timing is critical – the new commitments made today to support COVAX and share vaccines get us closer to the volume and distribution we need, but we must also accelerate the speed at which we get vaccines to every corner of the planet, for if the virus is moving faster than we are, it’s winning.

Make no mistake – this pandemic is as brutal as any war we have fought – it’s time we fought back with the same intensity.”

Brandon Locke, Policy and Advocacy Manager at The ONE Campaign, reacted on the EU’s doubling its contribution to COVAX: 

“It’s a step forward to see the EU increasing its commitment ensuring everyone has access to COVID-19 vaccines, this investment is crucial to equip COVAX  to reach its full potential.

Investments like this, show how the EU is taking concrete steps to beat this virus everywhere. More investment is only half the battle, we are still to see the EU and its Member States commit to a detailed plan to share doses through COVAX quickly, equitably, and efficiently”

ENDS