The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers yesterday authorized a voluntary contribution of one hundred million euros to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) for the period 2022-2035.
GAVI is an alliance of public and private organizations whose aim is to ensure that all children have equal access to vaccines, regardless of where they live. In addition, GAVI is leading the vaccine pillar (also known as COVAX) of the Accelerating Access to Pandemic Tools of COVID-19 (ACT-A), an international collaborative framework that brings together governments, health organizations, scientists, businesses, civil society organizations and philanthropists and whose founding countries include Spain. ACT-A as a whole is framed within the Plan of the World Health Organization (WHO) and is structured in three pillars, each of them co-led by different Global Health Institutions.
In May 2020, Spain announced a contribution of 125 million euros to finance the ACT-A, of which 50 million euros would go to GAVI. Subsequently, in June 2021, another €50 million contribution to the financing of COVAX through GAVI was announced.
The 14-year contribution authorized yesterday will be made through the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), an innovative financial instrument through which the World Bank issues bonds backed by pledged contributions from donors. The money provided by investors through the purchase of these bonds is subsequently delivered to GAVI.
The full amount of the pledged funds will be available to Spain’s partner countries immediately. In addition, the establishment of the 14-year installments makes it possible to distribute the payments in a way that does not compromise the annual budget of the Secretariat of State for International Cooperation, and specifically of the Directorate General for Sustainable Development Policies.
