In early November, vaccine alliance Gavi – a public-private global health partnership to increase access to immunization in lower-income countries – announced the appointment of Citi as financial adviser to its Covax Facility.
The Facility aims to procure, equitably allocate and deliver two billion doses of safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines by the end of 2021.
Covax was launched in April in response to the coronavirus pandemic. It is a global collaboration of pharmaceutical companies, governments, multilaterals and non-governmental organizations.
This may be one of the most important risk structures and finance mechanisms of our era – everyone should be paying attention to it.
Some 94 higher-income economies have joined the programme as self-financing members. They pay into the Covax Facility, which provides a large portfolio of vaccine manufacturers with investments and incentives to ensure they are ready to produce the doses needed as soon as a vaccine is approved.
The Covax Facility could serve as a blueprint for the management of future global crises
Most of the vaccines in the portfolio won’t work, but the Facility is a crucial mechanism for fairness. Collaboration and pooled purchasing power should mean lower prices from manufacturers, to everyone's benefit.
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