NA Editorial
The Mastercard Foundation and the African CDC jointly announced this week that the 15.2 million vaccines purchased under the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative are currently being distributed across Africa, which will benefit more than 65 million people.
Launched in June 2021, the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative is now a US$1.5 billion partnership that aims to enable vaccination for thousands of people, develop a vaccine manufacturing workforce and strengthen the capacity of the African CDC to oversee a historic vaccination campaign and respond effectively to future outbreaks.
According to Reeta Roy, CEO of the MasterCard Foundation, the timely delivery of these vaccines underlines the effectiveness of the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust(AVAT) and by collaborating with the African CDC and various organizations, the Mastercard Foundation will support the distribution of the vaccines to millions of people across the continent.
Vaccines purchased under the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative take advantage of a historic agreement negotiated by the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust earlier this year to purchase 400 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines, as well as a more recent agreement to purchase 50 million Moderna vaccines.
The Mastercard Foundation will fund the purchase of 57 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines and will purchase approximately 17 million Moderna vaccines. The AVAT mechanism was created to allow African countries to pool resources that would allow them to directly purchase vaccines at reduced prices through large volume orders.
According to the representative of the African Union, Strive Masiyiwa, through AVAT, enough vaccines will be guaranteed to inoculate 450 million people by September 2022.
The agreement for the supply and distribution of vaccines was established based on a guarantee of 2 billion US dollars issued by Afreximbank to vaccine manufacturers, with the support of partners.
The distribution of vaccines under the Saving Lives and Livelihoods initiative will be led by UNICEF, which globally oversees the delivery of AVAT vaccines. UNICEF has extensive experience in delivering and distributing vaccines. This is only possible because it maintains a strong and trusting relationship with African countries.