LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest provider of HIV/AIDS care globally, calls on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to immediately support the worldwide scale-up of COVID-19 vaccinations by providing $100 billion in emergency grants to struggling countries. The appeal is part of AHF’s worldwide “VOW: Vaccinate Our World” campaign.
While a handful of wealthy nations are successfully vaccinating large portions of their populations, lower-income countries in Asia and Africa are far behind in securing and administering COVID-19 vaccines. Low-income countries have accounted for only .03% of the 1.78 billion vaccines administered globally to date, and new cases continue to climb.
“To quote the IMF – ‘Urgent action is needed to arrest the rising human toll and economic strain,’” said AHF President Michael Weinstein. “They’re exactly right – ‘urgent action.’ We urge the IMF to float the world $100 billion in grants right now so everyone, not just wealthy countries, can secure critically needed medical supplies and vaccines. We’re more than a year into the pandemic, there are nearly 169 million global COVID-19 cases and more than 3.5 million deaths. If now is not the time for emergency funds, when is?”
The IMF has introduced a proposal to end the pandemic, but it falls short of supplying the needed resources to vaccinate all countries.
“When the world is at war with COVID-19, there should be no quibbling about how much it costs to ensure everyone can be protected,” added Weinstein. “The global economy has lost tens of trillions of dollars to the pandemic – $100 billion from the International Monetary Fund is a small price to pay to vaccinate the world. Wealthy nations, along with big pharma, have allowed the immorality of vaccine rationing to persist. We call on the IMF to seize the opportunity to protect all humanity, regardless of socioeconomic status.”
To learn more about what else is needed to ensure everyone can be vaccinated against COVID-19, visit VaccinateOurWorld.org.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.5 million clients in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare
Contacts
US MEDIA CONTACT:
Ged Kenslea, Senior Director, Communications, AHF
+1.323.308.1833 work
+1.323.791.5526 mobile
gedk@aidshealth.org
Denys Nazarov, Director of Global Policy &
Communications, AHF
+1 323.308.1829
denys.nazarov@ahf.org
