- The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care
- Senator The Hon Zed Seselja, Minister for International Development and the Pacific
The Australian Government will contribute an additional $85 million and offer at least 10 million vaccine doses to the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment (AMC) to help lift global vaccination rates, guard against future variants and further protect the health security of Australia's region.
Australia's contribution will ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines for those who need them most and support COVAX to respond to future variants. This new commitment is in addition to our existing pledge of $130 million, taking Australia's total contribution to $215 million.
The COVAX AMC is a partnership between Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization, CEPI, and UNICEF. The COVAX AMC has delivered over 1.2 billion vaccine doses to 86 countries, including over 240 million doses to Southeast Asia and Pacific island countries.
This commitment complements the Australian Government's COVID-19 vaccine access support for the Indo-Pacific region, including the provision so far of more than 25 million vaccine doses and associated delivery support, such as cold chain storage and risk communications.
Australia has also contributed $100 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) to accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases in 2022 and beyond. The Australian Government recently announced a further five-year $375 million phase of the Government's Health Security Initiative for the Indo-Pacific.
Australia's strong support will help to break the cycle of this pandemic and ensure our region is better positioned to respond to the next one.
