Foundation to spend $1.3B to vaccinate Africans for COVID

One of the world's largest foundations will spend $1.3 billion over the next three years to acquire and deliver COVID-19 vaccines for more than 50 million people in Africa. It’s a first-of-its-kind effort for a Western nonprofit to bolster Africa’s lagging vaccination campaign amid widespread fears of a third wave of infections on the continent.

The Tuesday announcement from the Toronto-based Mastercard Foundation, which has more than $39 billion in assets, comes days after the World Health Organization said Africa was encountering an alarming mix of a spike in virus cases and “a near halt” of vaccine shipments. The delays have been tied to India’s halt on vaccine exports, among other things.

The foundation will purchase single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines at the discounted rate negotiated by the African Union during its 220 million dose deal with the vaccine manufacturer. Those vaccines will begin to be delivered to the AU's 55 member states from July to September, with an option to purchase an additional 180 million doses through next year.

But some countries have been experiencing issues with the J&J vaccine. In South Africa, the first batch of 1.1 million doses, which should have already been put to use, remain on hold at a plant because of contamination concerns at a factory in Baltimore. Another batch of 900,000 doses was meant to be released in June.

The doses bought by the foundation, which has operated independently from Mastercard since its launch in 2006, will begin to be available in August, “in progressively larger quantities,” said Julie Waiganjo, a spokesperson for the foundation.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is partnering with the foundation on the initiative, and will be consulting African government agencies and...