World Bank approves $12B to finance virus vaccines

The World Bank has approved $12 billion (U.S.) in financing to help developing countries buy and distribute coronavirus vaccines, tests, and treatments, aiming to support the vaccination of up to one billion people.

The $12-billion “envelop” is part of a wider World Bank Group package of up to $160 billion to help developing countries fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank said in a statement late Tuesday.

The World Bank said its COVID-19 emergency response programs are already reaching 111 countries.

Citizens in developing countries also need access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, it said.

“We are extending and expanding our fast-track approach to address the COVID emergency so that developing countries have fair and equal access to vaccines,” the bank’s president, David Malpass, said in the statement.

“Access to safe and effective vaccines and strengthened delivery systems is key to alter the course of the pandemic and help countries experiencing catastrophic economic and fiscal impacts move toward a resilient recovery,” Malpass added.

The International Finance Corporation, the private sector lending arm of the World Bank, is investing in vaccine manufacturers through a $4-billion Global Health Platform, the statement said.

Development and deployment of vaccines is crucial to help stem outbreaks of the coronavirus that has killed more than one million people and sickened more than 38 million worldwide, while devastating economies and leaving many millions jobless.