The Commission also plans to contribute €427 million to the Global Pandemic Preparedness Fund to support efforts to prevent and better respond to future pandemics.

,Vaccine supply must be accompanied by rapid distribution, especially in Africa. The priority today is to ensure that every available dose is delivered,European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on the sidelines of the second global Covid summit held remotely on Thursday, the EU will also increase its support to strengthen health systems and preparedness capabilities.

Support given by the EC as part of the “Team Europe” global response, 300 million euros for vaccinations in Africa through the Covax mechanism and other partners, 100 million euros for access to other tools in the fight against Covid related to aggregation. -19 (diagnostic equipment, treatment and strengthening health systems) and 427 million euros will go to the Global Pandemic Preparedness Fund to be created subject to an agreement on its governance.

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To help prevent a recurrence of the devastating health and socio-economic consequences of COVID-19 in the future, the fund will raise funds for pandemic preparedness and response.

As of 3 May, EU member states have shared a total of more than 470 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, of which more than 366 million have already been distributed to their recipients. Covax has distributed 1.436 billion doses to 145 countries. In total, the European Union also exported 2.2 billion doses to partner countries.

The EU and its member states have already pledged more than €1 billion to support the deployment and support of vaccines and other tools to fight Covid-19 in low-income countries and low-middle income countries .