Gates Foundation, Wellcome commit $300M to CEPI's COVID-19 response

The additional funding will go toward the implementation of CEPI’s five-year plan to “better prepare for, prevent, and equitably respond to future epidemics and pandemics.”

By Stephanie Beasley // 19 January 2022

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome announced Wednesday that they would commit a total of $300 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations in support of its COVID-19 response and epidemic preparedness work. The details: The Gates Foundation and Wellcome each pledged $150 million to CEPI, a global health partnership launched in 2017 with the help of the two foundations — along with the World Economic Forum and the governments of Germany, India, Japan, and Norway — to expedite the development of vaccines and help prevent disease outbreaks and epidemics. The additional funding will go toward the implementation of CEPI’s five-year plan to “better prepare for, prevent, and equitably respond to future epidemics and pandemics.” Both foundations cited the ongoing spread of COVID-19 as a reason to boost funding for vaccine development. “Today, we’re increasing our commitment and pledging an additional $150 million to help CEPI accelerate the development of safe and effective vaccines against emerging variants of the coronavirus and to prepare for, and possibly even prevent, the next pandemic,” said Bill Gates, a co-chair at the Gates Foundation, in a statement. Wellcome’s director, Dr. Jeremy Farrar, said the effects of COVID-19 had been “sobering” and urged world leaders to help CEPI reach its $3.5 billion fundraising goal. CEPI will hold a fundraising event sponsored by the United Kingdom on March 8. Government leaders, philanthropists, and other donors are expected to attend. Why it matters: CEPI has helped develop more than a dozen COVID-19 vaccine candidates and invested in the creation of the vaccine from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. It also helped fund Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine, which recently received emergency use listing from the World Health Organization. CEPI also this week announced that it had formalized an arrangement with the Institut Pasteur de Dakar to provide Africa with millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses.

The details: The Gates Foundation and Wellcome each pledged $150 million to CEPI, a global health partnership launched in 2017 with the help of the two foundations — along with the World Economic Forum and the governments of Germany, India, Japan, and Norway — to expedite the development of vaccines and help prevent disease outbreaks and epidemics.

The additional funding will go toward the implementation of CEPI’s five-year plan to “better prepare for, prevent, and equitably respond to future epidemics and pandemics.” Both foundations cited the ongoing spread of COVID-19 as a reason to boost funding for vaccine development.

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About the author

Stephanie Beasley @Steph_Beasley
Stephanie Beasley is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global philanthropy with a focus on regulations and policy. She is an alumna of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Oberlin College and has a background in Latin American studies. She previously covered transportation security at POLITICO.