Australia's formal pledge of an additional $85 million to the to lower-income countries has been welcomed.
Vaccine sharing alliance Gavi co-hosted an international donor conference on Friday, European time, which raised a total of $6.45 billion, based on the pledges from The European Commission, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Japan and other nations.
The amount is close to what COVAX said was necessary - $6.98 billion - to deliver vaccines to poorer nations globally in 2022.
The latest announcement moves the world closer to reaching the World Health Organization goal of 70 per cent first vaccination coverage globally by July. The rate is now at almost 65 per cent.
Professor José Manuel Barroso, the board chair of Gavi, said he welcomed the global solidarity shown.
'Breaking COVID now'
“This pandemic is not over: while gaps in coverage remain, it will continue to wreak havoc on individuals, communities, and economies," he said.
"Achieving equity is the key to breaking COVID now. We cannot afford to wait and risk the virus undoing all the progress that has been made."
In addition to delivering and administering the vaccine, the funds will also allow a so-called Pandemic Vaccine Pool to be created to ensure a future supply of vaccines can be sourced if needed.
The COVAX scheme, co-led by Gavi and the World Health Organization, has so far delivered 1.4 billion doses to 145 countries - failing to meet the end of 2021 goal of two billion doses.
"Australia’s contribution will ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines for those who need them most and support COVAX to respond to future variants," Foreign Minister Marise Payne said on 1 April.
"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 allocates 10 million vaccines doses for COVAX
Australia will also contribute 10 million vaccine doses to the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment (AMC).
Aid analysts at the Australian National University said the step is rather than bilaterally."
The groups, End COVID For All, and Pacific Friends of Global Health said the Australian government's new contribution to COVAX should be praised.
"It's a minor triumph," said Professor Brendan Crabb, chair of Pacific Friends of Global Health and a spokesperson for End COVID For All.
"Low income and low and middle-income countries stand to gain substantially from this. I do think it's a minor triumph for global solidarity in a really tough time with Ukraine and all sorts of difficulties. I wasn't confident we would get there. So I'm really pleased with the outcome."
Calls for Australia to step up
But Professor Crabb said he believes Australia's contribution to the COVAX facility needs to be stepped up even further.
"That's about a quarter of what we need to give," he said of Australia's latest pledge.
"It is a big amount of money, but it is in fact a drop in the bucket compared to the ongoing pandemic. Imagine the next Delta, the next Omicron, the unpredictable next variant, which is actually of course very likely to happen - given so much of the world is unvaccinated."
In Papua New Guinea, about four per cent of its total population has received at least one vaccine dose. That's out of close to 9 million, based on PNG government data from 5 March. Vaccine hesitancy continues to be a barrier to vaccine uptake.
Professor Crabb said reaching the end of the pandemic requires tackling the low vaccination rates in poorer countries.
"It is the main game, it's not a fringe thing. It's not just a nice thing to do. It's essential for Australia's own future to do this. It's the best investment and best bang for your buck that I can think of."
According to the WHO, 21 countries in Africa have fully vaccinated less than 10 per cent of their populations, while 16 have vaccinated less than five per cent; and three have fully vaccinated less than two per cent.
Most countries in Africa have full vaccination rates of less than 10 per cent, with some even as low as five per cent. Credit: AAP
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said the study shows that the number of infections in Africa as of September 2021 is not the 8.2 million officially reported, but some 800 million.
The pre-print under peer review suggests that more than two-thirds of all Africans have been exposed to the COVID-19 virus.
Of the more than 587 million vaccine doses delivered to Africa as of early February, the WHO says 58 per cent came via COVAX, 36 per cent from bilateral deals and 6 per cent from the African Union.
