ADB's $9 billion vaccine initiative, the Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility, or APVAX, will provide a comprehensive program to support developing Asia’s vaccine process.
APVAX will provide funding for vaccine procurement and logistics costs, as well as for successful distribution, delivery, and administration of vaccines. It will also support important investments to build capacity in vaccine delivery, community outreach, and surveillance.
Transcript
This year 2020 has been one like no other in living memory. We have seen the COVID-19 pandemic wreak a devastating impact across the globe. Its scale and scope are unprecedented in a century.
In Asia and the Pacific alone we have seen more than 14 million cases as well as more than 200,000 deaths. The economic effects are similarly devastating. According to our estimates, the losses in developing Asian economies could be somewhere between $1.4 trillion and $2.2 trillion in 2020.
We know that safe and effective vaccination programs can break the chain of virus transmission, save lives, and help rebuild confidence in our ability to work, travel, and socialize safely.
That is why countries across the globe are rushing to vaccinate their people. At such a critical moment, we want to ensure that ADB’s developing members secure sufficient funds to procure safe and effective vaccines based on appropriate plans and knowledge, so that their population can access such vaccines as swiftly and equitably as possible.
Today, therefore, I am pleased to announce the establishment of the Asian Development Bank’s new $9 billion vaccine initiative, the Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility, or APVAX.
Our APVAX provides a comprehensive program to support developing Asia’s vaccine process. It will provide funding for vaccine procurement and logistics costs, as well as for successful distribution, delivery, and administration of vaccines. It will also support important investments to build capacity in vaccine delivery, community outreach, and surveillance.
Rest assured that ADB will be working throughout in close coordination with our other development partners on financing and technical support for vaccines.
I am confident this new ADB facility will play a critical role in helping our developing members meet their ongoing challenges, overcome the pandemic, and set out on the path to economic recovery.
I also firmly believe that access to safe and effective vaccine is a global public good. Protecting people in our developing members including the poor and the vulnerable will keep people safe in other parts of the world.
