The announcement was made on Tuesday in New York. This is the largest private donation for the purchase of anticovid vaccine to date. The money will be handled by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, set up by the African Union.
Less than 2% of the continent’s population has received a dose of the vaccine. We are far from the points achieved by developed countries. For example, almost 52% of Americans and over 63% of Israelis are already vaccinated. The donation from the MasterCard Foundation enables the African Union to buy enough to protect at least 50 million people from Covid-19 and financially support local vaccine production efforts.
► Read also: Covid-19: The Covax initiative seeks funding for more vaccines
The money will be released in three years, the Mastercard Foundation announces. It is the largest private contribution to the African Union immunization program. The money increases, while The Covax initiative launched by the international community to help poor countries obtain vaccines has so far only been able to deliver 19 million doses to 43 African countries.
The unit is gaining momentum, its chief said this week, especially thanks to US donations. But to achieve the African Union’s goal of vaccinating 60% of the continent’s population by the end of 2022, much more than Mastercard’s generosity is needed.
.
