EU pledges 100m vaccines during 'Rome Declaration'

THE EUROPEAN UNION expressed an intention to donate 100 million doses of vaccines to low and middle-income countries until the end of 2021, for the most part, through the Covax facility.

In a release on Friday, the EU said a billion vaccines were donated by BioNTech/Phizer, 200 million by Johnson and Johnson, and 100 million from Moderna – a total of 1.3 billion vaccines.

The initiative was announced during the Global Health Summit hosted in Italy, which was described as the “epicentre of the pandemic” last year.

“This is certainly important and encouraging news in the fight against covid19. At a time when vaccines are scarce, the EU is committed to ensuring that everyone – in both high and low income countries – is able access vaccines and we will continue to work with all partners to realise that goal,” said Charge d’Affaires of the EU Delegation to Trinidad and Tobago Sanjin Soldatic.

The EU mobilised funding to the tune of US$3 billion through its contributions to the Covax facility and the ACT – Accelerator through the Coronavirus Global Response.

It also invested 4 billion Euro in covid19 research and production capacity to develop vaccines and 40 billion Euro to support partner countries tackle the health emergency, strengthen key sectors and mitigate socio-economic consequences of the pandemic.