By Asmau Ahmad
The World Bank Group (WBG) says it has provided over four billion dollars for COVID-19 vaccine deployment operations for 51 developing countries, half of which are in Africa.
President of the group, David Malpass said this in a statement issued on Wednesday in Washington.
According to him, of 51 countries with World Bank vaccine financing approved so far, 27 are in Africa.
He also said that more than half of the financing was from the International Development Association (IDA), the bank’s fund for the world’s poorest countries, and that the financing was on grant or highly concessional terms.
“This financing is part of the bank’s commitment to help developing countries acquire and distribute vaccines and strengthen their health systems.
“The World Bank now is helping developing countries in every region of the world with vaccine purchase and rollouts, including efforts to boost supply, enhance transparency, accelerate deployment and match available doses with country needs,” he said.
Malpass said that in view of the surging demand for World Bank vaccine finance, the bank was expanding its financing available for COVID-19 vaccine financing to 20 billion dollars over the next 18 months.
This, he said, was by adding eight billion dollars to the previously announced 12 billion dollars.
He called on countries with surplus doses to release these for use by developing countries and for vaccine manufacturers to prioritise the available doses for the developing countries that so urgently need them.
He also announced that the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the bank’s private sector development arm, had concluded the mobilisation of a financing package totaling 600 million euros for Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited.
Aspen, a pharmaceutical company in South Africa, plays a major role in producing COVID-19 treatment therapies and vaccines on the African continent.
According to Malpass, IFC is joined in the venture by three national development finance institutions: Proparco of France, DEG of Germany, and DFC of the United States.
The package includes 200 million euros from IFC’s own account, he added.
“Aspen has partnered with Johnson and Johnson (J&J) to compound, finish, fill and package the COVID-19 vaccine at its fully certified sterile injectables facility in South Africa.
“With today’s investment in this new production facility, Aspen is able to expand Johnson and Johnson filling, finishing and packaging capacity for its COVID-19 vaccine.
“By partnering with Aspen, WBG and IFC can contribute to the continent’s continued vaccine manufacturing development and support knowledge sharing and technology exchanges.”
He said that the bank’s vaccine finance package was flexible, as it was being used by countries to acquire doses through COVAX, through the African Union (AU), or directly contracted from approved manufacturers.
Still on vaccines, Malpass said that the bank could fully fund the purchase of the up to 400 million J&J doses negotiated by the Africa Center for Disease Control and the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT).
He said that the bank was finalising the details with the AU and AVATT, building on its deep partnership with the Africa CDC.
According to him, to enable doses to be delivered and deployed, the bank financing for 27 African countries is already in place and much more will follow over the coming weeks.
This, he said, was so with requests from a total of 41 African countries received for World Bank vaccine financing.
He said that together, all the actions on vaccine production, deployment and financing would save lives and boost economic recovery.
It would also help to ensure that people in developing countries have a chance to prosper and live their lives with confidence.
