Brussels | The European Union will announce the doubling of its contribution to the Covax anti-COVID vaccination device, to bring it to 1 billion euros, at the G7 meeting, a European source said on Friday.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is also due to announce at this meeting a contribution of 100 million euros in humanitarian aid for the vaccination campaign in Africa through support to Africa CDC , the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the same source.
This doubled contribution is financed from the EU budget.
US President Joe Biden will also promise Friday at this meeting, centered on the sharing of vaccines, four billion dollars for Covax, the UN device founded by several international organizations, including the WHO, the White House said Thursday.
The Covax program aims to provide COVID vaccines to 20% of the population of nearly 200 participating countries and territories this year, but most importantly it includes a funding mechanism that allows 92 low and middle income economies to access in precious doses.
While the great powers have started massive vaccination campaigns against COVID-19, with varying success, concern is mounting over disadvantaged countries.
On the eve of the G7, French President Emmanuel Macron ruled in the “Financial Times” “unsustainable” that poor countries should be neglected and called for rich countries to send 3% to 5% of their available doses to Africa “Very quickly, and that people see them arriving on the ground”.