Rockefeller Foundation injects S55m to get COVID-19 shots from airports

The Rockefeller Foundation has launched the Global Vaccination Initiative, a $55 million investment over two years to support country-led efforts to fully vaccinate 90 per cent of the most at-risk populations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

With this new initiative, the Foundation is focusing its global health resources on supporting locally-driven interventions to increase vaccine demand – access, trust, and information – that have been consistently underestimated, misunderstood, and underfunded in the global COVID-19 response to date, while leveraging data from trusted, credible sources to strengthen health systems and ensure they are meeting the needs of the most vulnerable populations.

COVID-19 vaccines still represent the world’s best chance at sustainably managing and overcoming the pandemic, yet two years into the pandemic, vaccination rates remain severely inequitable: only 15% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose, while high-income countries deploy third or even fourth booster shots.

President of The Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, said: “The world has every tool it needs to make COVID-19 endemic for everyone, everywhere — but only if those tools are in the hands of the people who need them most”.

He stated that with this new commitment, The Rockefeller Foundation will help countries across the Global South reach at-risk populations, simultaneously increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates and building health systems capable of addressing future Covid-19 outbreaks and other public health threats.”

While global supplies of vaccines increase and stabilize, challenging demand-side issues are preventing countries from accelerating vaccination campaigns.

The Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator estimates that an additional $6.8 billion is needed to support Covid-19 demand generation and expects funding to come directly from countries themselves along with development banks and other international grant financing. This is occurring at a time when the World Bank estimates that low-income nations need 24-30% of their GDP to respond to and recover from the pandemic’s health and economic crises, but with interest rates rising, their external debt outstanding has grown to more than two-thirds of GDP.

In response, The Rockefeller Foundation’s Global Vaccination Initiative will invest in projects to generate vaccine demand by focusing on three levers: D ata and digital tools; Capacity building and Financing, adding  “to sustainably support these activities and achieve long-term change, the Foundation will advocate for increased financing to address vaccination demand challenges and additional flexibility in the use of funding to strengthen local health system capabilities for routine immunization and other essential health services”.

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Global Vaccination Initiative has already engaged several organizations to implement its strategy, including: United Nations, in collaboration with Purpose, to support Verified, a network of trusted messengers, citizen volunteers and trained media to spread accurate, lifesaving information about COVID-19 vaccinations with the goal of saving lives and countering mis- and disinformation in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Notably, Brazil’s #AllForVaccines movement became a Twitter trending topic with over 50,000 interactions, South Africa’s Zwakala campaign was officially adopted by South Africa’s national government, and India’s hyperlocal campaigns activated 150 community leaders, 10,000 vaccinated auto rickshaw drivers and street vendors, and primary health care workers to disseminate urgent messaging across 33 informal settlements in Delhi.

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