The Rockefeller Foundation Releases New Financing Roadmap to End Pandemic by End of 2022
Calls for $44 billion in SDRs through IMF to achieve 70% vaccination rate in LMICs
Recommends an allocation of $650 billion in SDRs to catalyze a sustainable global recovery
NEW YORK | April 6, 2021 –The Rockefeller Foundation released a new roadmap for financing the end of the Covid-19 pandemic by the end of 2022 and kick-starting a just and sustainable global recovery. An Action Plan for Financing Global Vaccination and Sustainable Growth issues a call to action to leverage $44 billion in special drawing rights (SDRs) through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to achieve a 70% vaccination rate in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by the end of 2022. These special drawing rights would be a part of a broader issuance of $650 billion in SDRs to jump-start a more inclusive, sustainable recovery in LMICs at no additional cost to wealthy nations, which have spent heavily on their own recoveries. The Foundation’s financing roadmap calls for this new allocation to be finalized and distributed as swiftly as possible. Arguing that without it, the pandemic will rage on in these countries, giving rise to variants and supply chain disruptions that threaten efforts to defeat the virus in every country. The roadmap also cites the need for a re-allocation of no less than $100 billion in wealthy countries’ SDRs to further support pandemic response and recovery in LMICs with relatively low cost to donors.
“At a moment when countries are facing populism and vaccine nationalism, this plan provides initial proposals on financing options to end the pandemic in 20 months and requires minimal additional dollars from individual nations,” said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. “Leveraging $44 billion in special drawing rights through the IMF can fund the vaccination of up to 70% of developing countries’ populations and stop the pandemic everywhere, for all of us.”
$44 billion to bridge the financing gap & end the pandemic in 20 months.
As of the end of March 2021, high- and upper-middle-income countries accounted for an estimated 86% of Covid-19 shots administered worldwide.
The price of achieving 70% vaccination among lower- and middle-income countries by the end of 2022 is estimated to be $44 billion, considering costs of the vaccine and the logistics and staffing to vaccinate these populations. The roadmap notes even some additional donor commitments would be unlikely to cover these costs in the short term. At the same time, a dozen of the world’s Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers, collectively, have the facilities to produce up to 12 billion doses in 2021 alone.
“Right now, the supply side of a global vaccination effort of this kind is projected to be ahead of the operational and financing side,” said Dr. Rick Bright, SVP of Pandemic Response and Prevention at The Rockefeller Foundation. “We know how to stop this virus, but the funding behind current global vaccination plans and the commitment required to drive supply and vaccine administration are simply not enough to get the vaccine into the arms of the majority of the world’s population – and as the virus continues to spread unchecked, it’s likely that even more dangerous variants will emerge.”
In addition to bridging the critical financing gap, successfully utilizing special drawing rights to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines globally can pave the way for future creative use of SDRs...