UK Raises 1b USD from Global Donors to Help Access to Coronavirus Vaccines

Addis Ababa, January 12/2021( ENA) The United Kingdom (UK) has mobilized one billion USD from global donors to support vulnerable countries access coronavirus vaccines, British Embassy in Addis Ababa announced.  

The UK has helped to raise one billion USD for the coronavirus COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) through match-funding other donors, which combined with the 548 million euro of UK aid pledged will help distribute one billion doses of coronavirus vaccines to 92 developing countries this year.

This vital investment will help stop the spread of the disease and prevent future waves, helping to build back better from coronavirus globally, according to a press release the embassy sent to ENA.  

The UK is using aid budget, scientific expertise and diplomatic leverage to strengthen global health, it stated.

The announcement coincides with a three-day virtual visit to London by the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, as part of the UK’s commemoration of the UN’s 75^th anniversary.

"It is fitting that, on the 75^th anniversary of the UN, the UK has led with our allies to make one billion doses of coronavirus vaccine available to vulnerable countries. We’ll only be safe from this virus, when we’re all safe which is why we’re focused on a global solution to a global problem,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said "I am honored to virtually visit the United Kingdom to mark that occasion, renew our cause of overcoming global challenges together, and celebrate a country that was instrumental in creating the United Nations and which remains, today, a crucial member state, not least in the run-up to COP26 in Glasgow.”