The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a $50 million commitment to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance in support of efforts to increase access to safe and affordable COVID-19 vaccines in lower-income countries.

The commitment will support the purchase of vaccines through GAVI's Advance Market Commitment for COVID-19 Vaccines (COVAX AMC) — a financing mechanism for promoting equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines in ninety-two low- and middle-income countries — and the delivery of those vaccines. Announced at the COVAX AMC Summit co-hosted by GAVI and the Japanese government, the pledge builds on $156 million in previous commitments the foundation has made to COVAX AMC, including a $50 million contribution last November, and brings to more than $1.8 billion the total it has committed in support of global COVID-19 response efforts.

New commitments announced by donor governments, corporations, and foundations totaled $2.4 billion, which will enable COVAX AMC to secure 1.8 billion doses for delivery in 2021 and early 2022 — enough to protect nearly 30 percent of the adult population in lower-income countries — and diversify its vaccine portfolio in the face of supply uncertainty and new virus variants and prepare to meet public health needs in 2022 and beyond. Pledges include $28 million from Mastercard, $10 million from Twilio, $6 million from the WHO Foundation's Go Give One campaign, and $3 million from the Visa Foundation, as well as $800 million from the Japanese government, C$220 million from Canada ($181.6 million), €100 million ($121.5 million) from France, and AU$50 million ($38.4 million) from Australia.

"Bringing an end to the COVID-19 pandemic is the most pressing challenge of our time — and nobody wins the race until everyone wins," said GAVI chief executive Seth Berkley. "Today, as we looked back on one year of COVAX, we saw that global leaders clearly recognize the need for equitable access and support the principle that [one's] ability to pay should not determine whether someone is protected from this virus."

(Photo credit: WHO Foundation)