• Norway donates first doses to COVAX, with first shipments arriving in Nicaragua and Uganda on 30 July. In total, Norway has pledged 5 million doses to COVAX, as well as US$ 141 million in funding.

  • Dag Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development: “The scourge of coronavirus is far from over. In some wealthy nations, vast immunization programmes have made it possible to start opening the society again, in great contrast to many poorer countries. So long as COVID-19 is uncontrolled anywhere in the world, it is a threat everywhere. The best way to stop the pandemic is to vaccinate widely and quickly across the globe and ensure that rigorous test-and-isolate strategies are universally implemented.

  • Dr Seth Berkley, CEO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance: “This dose donation enables COVAX to reach some of those who urgently need doses the most, and we are grateful to the Norwegian government and the Norwegian people for their continued support.

Geneva, 30 July 2021 – The first deliveries from a pledge of 5 million doses to be donated to COVAX by Norway have arrived, with 36,480 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine delivered to Nicaragua and 128,640 doses of the AZ vaccine delivered to Uganda today. These Norwegian dose donations comes on top of the NOK 1164.1 million it has pledged to the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (Gavi COVAX AMC).

This donation by Norway allows COVAX to deliver more vaccines in the third quarter of this year, before supply from COVAX purchase agreements increases in Q4, meaning that more people will be able to access vaccines now, at a time when variants are a major threat to global health and stability.

“As a longstanding champion of global health, Norway is co-chair of the ACT-Accelerator Facilitation Council, host to COVAX partner CEPI, an original donor and supporter of Gavi and a major funder of the Gavi COVAX AMC,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which leads on procurement and delivery at scale for COVAX. “This dose donation enables COVAX to reach some of those who urgently need doses the most, and we are grateful to the Norwegian government and the Norwegian people for their continued support.”

“We all need to do more to ensure vaccines are available, and we need to do it now. Only 1.1 percent of people in low-income countries have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose compared to 27.1 percent of the global population. In addition to more, and much faster dose sharing, there is an urgent need for additional financing for tests, treatments, and protective equipment and for the capacity to deliver all tools. The ACT-Accelerator needs to be fully funded to bring the pandemic under control,” said Dag Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development in Norway.

These doses donated by Norway are produced by the AstraZeneca manufacturing network. Donating through COVAX helps to increase vaccine coverage, ensures that no dose goes to waste, and helps to bring an end to the acute phase of the pandemic. The design and operationalization of the COVAX dose sharing mechanism is being supported by a contribution of CAD 5 million from Canada.

The donation of doses via COVAX are enabled via tripartite agreements between Gavi, manufacturers, and donating countries. The shipments to Nicaragua and Uganda will be enabled by COVAX delivery partners UNICEF and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).

Gavi and COVAX partners are working with governments to overcome legal and logistical hurdles to operationalise pledges totalling over 600 million doses, in order to enable deliveries of donated doses in the weeks and months to come.

Notes to editors

About COVAX

COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator , is co-led by CEPI, Gavi and WHO – working in partnership with developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers, UNICEF, PAHO, the World Bank, and others. It is the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both high-income and lower-income countries.

Gavi’s role in COVAX

Gavi is leading on procurement and delivery for COVAX, coordinating the design and implementation of the COVAX Facility and the COVAX AMC and working with Alliance partners UNICEF and WHO, along with governments, on country readiness and delivery. The COVAX Facility is the global pooled procurement mechanism for COVID-19 vaccines through which COVAX will ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines for all 190 participating economies, using an allocation framework formulated by WHO. The COVAX Facility will do this by pooling buying power from participating economies and providing volume guarantees across a range of promising vaccine candidates. The Gavi COVAX AMC is the financing mechanism that will support the participation of 92 low- and middle-income countries in the Facility, enabling access to donor-funded doses of safe and effective vaccines. UNICEF and the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) will be acting as procurement coordinators for the COVAX Facility, helping deliver vaccines to all participants.

About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 822 million children – and prevented more than 14 million deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 lower-income countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation and reaching the unvaccinated children still being left behind, employing innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organizations that fund Gavi’s work here.

Media Contacts

Meg Sharafudeen
+41 79 711 55 54
msharafudeen@gavi.org

Iryna Mazur
+41 79 429 3671
imazur@gavi.org

Cirũ Kariũki
+41 79 913 94 41
ckariuki@gavi.org

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