Bill and Melinda Gates at the Lincoln Center in September 2018. Photo: Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is putting $150 million into an effort to distribute coronavirus vaccines to low-income countries in 2021, global vaccination alliance Gavi announced on Friday.
Why it matters: Poorer countries have been most affected by the pandemic's disruption for noncommunicable diseases, the World Health Organization reports. Even in wealthy countries like the U.S., low-income people are among the most likely to become seriously ill if infected with the virus, along with minority populations.
Details: The foundation's $150 million will be used by the Serum Institute of India (SII) to create potential vaccine candidates — which are projected to cost $3 at most — and distribute them to poorer countries.
- SII has pledged to deliver at least 100 million COVID-19 vaccines in 2021.
Go deeper: Gates Foundation will focus "total attention" on coronavirus