EIB increases support for COVAX

On 12 May, the European Investment Bank (EIB) approved another €200 million to support the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX initiative.

The support for COVAX will be provided to scale up access to COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment mechanism. It follows €400 million of EIB financing for COVAX agreed last December, which represented the EIB’s largest ever support for global public health.

The new EIB financing for COVAX is expected to be guaranteed by the European Fund for Sustainable Development, and to strengthen Team Europe support for COVAX alongside grant support from the European Commission.

The EU is one of the biggest supporters of COVAX, a ground-breaking global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. The first COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX facility have arrived in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine with the help of the COVAX distribution partner UNICEF.

The new COVAX funding is part of a €1.5 billion EIB package of financing that will also improve green energy generation and distribution, bring investment to cities, health, education, and water, and enhance access to finance by business in EU countries.

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Press release

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