Mastercard Foundation and Africa CDC announce $1.3 billion vaccine initiative

The Mastercard Foundation and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will deploy $1.3 billion over the next three years as part of a new initiative to acquire and deliver vaccines across the continent.

The Saving Lives and Livelihoods scheme aims to secure shots for more than 50 million people and help develop vaccine manufacturing in African countries, the organizations said in a press release Tuesday. The second wave of Covid-19 has hit Africa much harder than the first, according to analysis published in March in The Lancet medical journal.