The World Bank has launched a comprehensive website that provides easy access to our vaccines project information, including individual country-financing operations. Greater transparency is key to an effective COVID-19 response.
As of May 13, 2021, the World Bank Board approved operations to support vaccine rollout in 22 countries amounting to $2.4 billion.
See the latest project financing, project documents and procurement information in the list below. More information will be shared here as it becomes available. We expect to reach 50 countries amounting to $4 billion by mid-year.
Through this, the World Bank Group is working with partners on the largest vaccination effort in history to stop the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 2, 2020, at the initial COVID-19 response phase, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a $6 billion Global COVID-19 Response Program (also called the COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Program, or SPRP).
The program has reached over 100 countries with emergency operations to prevent, detect, and respond to COVID-19 and strengthen systems for public health preparedness. The timing of potential vaccine development was not known when the SPRP was approved, but global vaccine development efforts progressed rapidly.
Recognizing the need for COVID-19 vaccines, on October 13, 2020, the World Bank Board approved an additional financing of $12 billion to the SPRP for developing countries to finance the acquisition and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines (read the project paper).
Countries receiving World Bank support for vaccines
Updated May 13, 2021
This list of countries, project documents, and procurement notices and contracts will be updated as data becomes available.
Afghanistan (Board approval: March 18, 2021)
Project financing |Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Bangladesh (Board approval: March 18, 2021)
Project financing |Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Cabo Verde (Board approval: February 11, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Côte d’Ivoire (Board approval: April 16, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Ecuador (Board approval: April 1, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
El Salvador (Board approval: April 16, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Eswatini (Board approval: April 16, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Ethiopia (Board approval: March 26, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
The Gambia (Board approval: December 18, 2020)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Honduras (Board approval: April 16, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Lebanon (restructured project) (Board approval: June 26, 2017)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Moldova (Board approval: April 23, 2021
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Mongolia (Board approval: February 11, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Nepal (Board approval: March 18, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Pakistan (restructured project) (Board approval: May 13, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Philippines (Board approval: March 11, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
(restructured project) (Board approval: March 11, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Rwanda (Board approval: April 16, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
São Tomé e Príncipe (Board approval: May 13, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Sri Lanka (Board approval: April 27, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Tajikistan (Board approval: February 11, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Tunisia (Board approval: March 26, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Ukraine (Board approval: May 10, 2021)
Project financing | Project documents | Procurement notices and contracts
Background and Approach
The World Bank’s rapid mobilization of vaccine financing aims to support affordable and equitable vaccine acquisition and deployment, and to signal to potential suppliers that Bank financing is available to its clients.
Such a commitment provides an incentive to the vaccine manufacturers to supply developing economies at affordable prices. All eligible Bank client countries (IBRD/IDA) can access the vaccine financing within their current lending envelopes for IDA countries and exposure limits for IBRD.
The World Bank Group is working in global solidarity with COVAX, WHO, UNICEF and other partners at global and country levels to support IDA and IBRD countries. This financing can be used by countries to make payments to COVAX, including the purchase of additional doses beyond the COVAX-provided 20% as countries aim for higher levels of coverage.
IFC’s $4 billion Global Health Platform is supporting private companies in delivering health products and services – including vaccines to developing countries. This includes investments in vaccine manufacturers to foster expanded production of COVID-19 vaccines in low- and middle-income countries, with production reserved for emerging markets; ability to invest in production to address other potential bottlenecks, including vials, needles and syringes, and cold storage capacity; support for mapping COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity.
The approach draws on the World Bank Group’s expertise in supporting large scale immunization programs for vaccine preventable diseases, as well as public health programs to tackle infectious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases.
Assessing Readiness
The Bank is working with partners to assess the readiness of countries’ health systems for vaccine deployment and identify gaps and areas for possible investment. This allows the Bank to support each country’s priority needs.
The assessments involve analysis of policy and regulatory capacities, data and tracking systems, health infrastructure, including cold chains and training of health workers. Assessments are already underway in more than 140 countries.
Vaccine eligibility
As the threshold for eligibility for IBRD/IDA resources in vaccine purchase, the Bank accepts either (i) regular or emergency licensure or authorization from at least one of the SRAs identified by WHO for vaccines procured and/or supplied under the COVAX Facility, as may be amended from time to time by WHO; or (ii) WHO Prequalification (PQ) or WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL).
Vaccine purchase
- Collective purchase mechanisms, such as participating in COVAX;
- Direct purchases by countries from vaccine manufacturers;
- Purchase of excess stocks from other countries that reserve excess doses.
Vaccine distribution:
To help countries get ready to deploy vaccines and strengthen their health systems, Bank financing is used to establish policies for safe and effective deployment, expand storage and build cold chains, develop data and tracking systems, train health workers and build trust in immunizations through citizen and community engagement.
