Japan leads pledges to bridge US$1.7b Covax vaccine gap

[TOKYO] Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga led pledges aimed at closing a US$1.7 billion funding gap that has hampered the distribution of coronavirus vaccinations to poorer nations around the world.

At a summit Mr Suga co-hosted with Gavi, the vaccine alliance, on Wednesday, the premier said Japan will provide an additional US$800 million to the World Health Organization-backed Covax initiative that is purchasing vaccines for 92 low-and-middle-income countries.

Other nations, including Australia, Canada, France, Spain and Switzerland, along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said they would also donate more than US$800 million, along with millions of Covid-19 inoculations.

"There's a need to close the funding gap as soon as possible," said Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan's foreign minister. Covax's goals "cannot be met by one country alone," Mr Suga added.

More cash is needed on top of earlier pledges, after a target of inoculating 20 per cent of the population in recipient countries by the end of 2021 was raised to 30 per cent, according to documents distributed by the Japanese government ahead of the meeting.

Scientists have said that rolling vaccines out around the world will be key to ending the pandemic, which continues to rage in Asia. Infection numbers are dwindling in the US and other countries whose immunisation programmes are relatively advanced.

Along with the donations, the WHO on Tuesday bolstered Covax's toolkit by authorising the use of the vaccine made by China's Sinovac Biotech.

Though China's shots have been criticised for their lower efficacy rates, the WHO backing has given additional inoculation options to Covax. The facility has been struggling to supply countries that have been unable to procure their own vaccines after wealthier ones snapped up most of the world's existing supply.

Already cleared for emergency use by the WHO are shots from Pfizer and partner BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.

Wednesday's summit came as Japan struggled to accelerate its own vaccination programme, with about 14 million doses so far given among its 126 million people, less than two month before it hosts the Olympics in Tokyo.

BLOOMBERG