Understanding and Unpacking the COVAX Vaccine Initiative

As we seek to recover from COVID-19, world leaders, pharmaceutical companies, and health institutions are turning to vaccines to build herd immunity and help the world overcome the pandemic as soon as possible.

But for that plan to be successful, vaccines must be made available and accessible to everyone, everywhere.

That is precisely why the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI), launched the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility — more commonly known as COVAX — a groundbreaking initiative that aims to ramp up vaccine manufacturing and ensure their equitable distribution around the world.

Read on to learn more about this one-of-a-kind program — and find out how you can take action to support it.

1. What is COVAX? COVAX is the vaccine pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, a partnership launched in 2020 by the WHO, the French government, and the European Commission.
2. Who are its key players?  COVAX is co-led by Gavi, CEPI, and the WHO. As of this month, dozens of countries — including the United States, Canada, Germany, and France — have contributed to COVAX Facility and/or COVAX AMC.
3. Which countries have benefitted from COVAX so far? As of March 8, more than 15 countries had received AstraZeneca vaccine doses manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and delivered as part of a first round of COVAX allocations for frontline and health care workers.
4. How can COVAX put us back on track to achieve the Global Goals and eliminate extreme poverty? The COVID-19 pandemic has stalled progress on the achievement of the United Nations’ Global Goals, a unique framework designed to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030.
5. How can Global Citizens support COVAX? Now more than ever, calling on world leaders, pharmaceutical companies, and corporations to step up for vaccine equity matters. Global Citizens can use their collective voice to support the key players involved in this fight through the Recovery Plan for the World.