Gavi CEO thanks Komeito for COVAX support

October 17 , 2020

Dr. Seth Berkley, chief executive officer of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, recently expressed gratitude to Komeito for facilitating the Japanese government’s endorsement of COVAX Facility, a global initiative organized by Gavi to procure COVID-19 vaccines to distribute to all participant-countries on an equitable basis.

Gavi is a global health partnership that brings together public- and private-sector members aiming to increase access to immunization to poor countries. It is working with the World Health Organization, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and other institutions and individuals to make COVAX Facility a success.

In his message, Dr. Berkley said that more than 170 countries have presently signed on to COVAX Facility covering some 70% of the global population. The CEO noted that Japan was the first country agreeing to participate in the initiative, which encouraged other governments to follow suit, and praised Komeito for playing a major role in securing Tokyo’s formal participation.

Under COVAX Facility, participant-countries with high- to middle-incomes frontload the cost of vaccine development and production in exchange for a large enough supply to immunize an equivalent of 20% of their population once a vaccine has been successfully developed. Komeito has been lobbying the government to participate since August.

Earlier, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation issued a statement thanking Komeito for its efforts to persuade the Japanese government to commit to the initiative.