White House announces $4 billion in funding for Covax

President Biden is set to announce Friday that the United States is committing $4 billion funding for a global initiative to distribute COVID-19 vaccines equitably. According to senior administration officials, the president will announce at a Group of Seven meeting of leaders of the world’s largest economies an initial $2 billion in funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to be used to support the Covax effort. An additional $2 billion will be released over 2 years. The funds, which were appropriated by a bipartisan congressional vote last year, will serve as a much needed boost to the program jointly led by Gavi, the World Health Organization, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. More than 190 countries are now participating in Covax, which aims to start distribution of vaccines in the first 6 months of this year. President Trump declined to join the effort last year. Gavi announced Thursday a memorandum of understanding with Novavax for 1.1 billion doses of their vaccine, following earlier agreements with Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sanofi, and Johnson & Johnson.