In the Latest Push for Vaccine Equity, a Funder Taps Impact Investing to Ease Purchase of Doses

When the Senate announced a pared-down $10 billion coronavirus aid package earlier this month to fund therapeutics, vaccines, treatment and more, one notable casualty of legislative negotiation was aid to help underserved countries get up to speed with COVID vaccinations. In his initial proposal, President Joe Biden had requested aid to boost vaccination worldwide, particularly in countries with especially low rates.

And while it’s encouraging that senators from both parties have said they’re still committed to exploring funding for global vaccination in the coming weeks and months, any delay in boosting global vaccination rates only gives the coronavirus more time to spread and develop new variants. As health officials have repeatedly said, low vaccination rates are everyone’s concern — the virus must be battled everywhere or the pandemic will likely continue to disrupt the health and lives of nations everywhere.

Global COVID vaccination rates still vary dramatically, with wealthier countries vaccinating upward of 80% or 90% of their populations, while some lower-income countries are still below 5%. The lowest rates of vaccination are in the Global South, including several countries in Africa.

Since vaccination is a matter of global health equity that transcends borders, it’s not surprising that the Open Society Foundations, which has long focused on global equity, justice and human rights, has invested heavily in international COVID aid. According to OSF’s website, the George Soros-backed network of foundations has committed more than $240 million in COVID response.

That sum included an announcement in April 2020 of more than $130 million to assist vulnerable communities around the world and in the U.S., including $37 million for New York City. That funding focused on informal, low-wage and gig economy workers, as well as refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, and other disadvantaged groups. Also addressed were front-line health workers and caregivers, and incarcerated people.

More recently, OSF has announced another major financial commitment to advance COVID equity, this time in partnership with GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance (a public-private global health partnership working to increase access to vaccines in poorer countries), and MedAccess, a U.K.-based social finance company that aims to make medical supplies more widely available and affordable in underserved markets.

This round of funding seeks to use an innovative finance mechanism to make acquisition of vaccines cheaper and faster for countries in need. GAVI, OSF and MedAccess recently announced the creation of a $200 million risk-sharing facility — like a group discount buying club — to help low- and middle-income countries purchase COVID-19 vaccines. By pooling their orders, countries in the sharing facility can purchase vaccines at much lower cost than would be possible otherwise.

MedAccess and OSF each made a $100 million procurement guarantee to the risk-sharing facility. OSF’s commitment comes from the Soros Economic Development Fund, its impact investing arm that uses private capital to support causes like climate justice, independent media, racial equity and access to medicine.

GAVI, OSF and MedAccess say the risk-sharing facility gives governments more control over what vaccines they order, when they receive them, and perhaps most importantly, accelerates the purchasing process. The partners say the $200 million financial guarantee will allow for as many as 190 million additional vaccine doses to low- and middle-income countries in 2022.

Making more vaccines available to countries that have long been outspent by wealthier countries with more power to buy up available supplies, as occurred earlier in the pandemic, is only part of the job. As we’ve written, many low- and middle-income countries lack the healthcare infrastructure such as cold storage systems and ample numbers of nurses and other healthcare professionals necessary to absorb and deliver shots throughout their populations — even if the vaccines are sitting in a freezer, ready to go. Vaccine resistance and misinformation is also still high in some nations.

That means the larger goal of more fully vaccinating the world, including the Global South, is likely to be a long process requiring a major push from all sectors — one that’s going to depend on expansion of every facet of the vaccine and healthcare ecosystem.

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