Covax Says Needs $2 Bilion Addition Funding By June For Poor Countries

"We need an additional $2 billion to lift coverage... up to nearly 30 percent, and we need it by June 2 to lock in supplies now so that doses can be delivered through 2021, and into early 2022," the mechanism's organisers said.

The Covax global vaccine-sharing programme said Thursday it needs $2.0 billion in additional funding by the beginning of June in order to boost coronavirus inoculation programmes in lower-income countries. "We need an additional $2 billion to lift coverage... up to nearly 30 percent, and we need it by June 2 to lock in supplies now so that doses can be delivered through 2021, and into early 2022," the mechanism's organisers -- which include the World Health Organization and the Gavi alliance -- said in a statement. "If the world's leaders rally together, the original Covax objectives - delivery of two billion doses of vaccines worldwide in 2021, and 1.8 billion doses to 92 lower-income economies by early 2022 - are still well within reach," the statement said. "But it will require governments and the private sector to urgently unlock new sources of doses, with deliveries starting in June, and funding so we can deliver."