Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Honourable parliamentarians and distinguished guests, thank you for inviting me here today. I thank the Canadian government for being such an incredible long-term and ongoing supporter of both COVAX and Gavi. Just earlier this month, you renewed the support of the Gavi COVAX AMC summit with additional pledges, bringing your total advanced market commitment to around $800 million Canadian. This has helped provide vital support with vaccine procurement, deliveries and ancillary costs. As well, you have committed to donate the equivalent of at least 200 million doses through COVAX by the end of 2022.
In addition to this, Canada has provided critical help with the design and operationalization of the dose-sharing mechanism. All of this has played an essential role in helping COVAX deliver more than 1.4 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine to people in 145 economies, with the vast majority, nearly 90%, going to the 92 lower-income advanced market commitment countries that otherwise would have struggled to get access. Through the Gavi COVAX advanced market commitment, or AMC, this equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines has been absolutely critical to protecting people and increasing coverage in lower-income countries.
Today, on average, 44% of people in these countries are now protected with two doses. While this still falls well short of the 59% global average and 70% global target set out by the WHO, it is incredible progress compared to just six months ago, but clearly we still have a long way to go. While many wealthy nations like Canada have coverage above 80% and some are now offering fourth booster shots, in lower-income countries it's a very different story. Currently, 18 countries still have coverage lower than 10%. This is a huge improvement on just three months ago, when 34 countries were in this position, but even so, many are still struggling with their rollouts.
Therefore, even though many countries with high coverage have now relaxed restrictions and reopened their societies, we are still in a state of global crisis. So far, a new variant has emerged roughly every four to five months, and globally nothing has changed to give us reason to believe this pattern won't continue. With 2.7 billion people still unvaccinated, the virus continues to have ample room to circulate and mutate. This means that the threat of resurgence or new and potentially more dangerous variants still hangs over us and will continue to do so until global coverage increases and more people are vaccinated.
Until recently, the main challenge has been supply. Vaccine hoarding, export restrictions and manufacturing delays have seriously hindered global access, but now global supply has ramped up and access to doses is no longer the issue. One reason for that is the successful use of technology transfers during the pandemic. By sharing not just intellectual property but also vital know-how that is essential to the production of vaccines, technology transfers have played a critical role in enabling us to get such large volumes of doses so quickly.
While COVAX supports any efforts aimed at increasing equitable global supply, waiving intellectual property is only part of the solution, and it's questionable whether by itself it would have the same impact. It's also important to remember that IP is an important part of vaccine development and is absolutely critical for innovation, which is the main reason so many COVID-19 vaccines have been developed, with more than two dozen vaccines already in use and hundreds more in clinical and pre-clinical trials.
Diversifying global supply remains important, and Gavi and COVAX are committed to it. When Gavi first began its work in 2000, there were only five suppliers, mostly in industrialized countries. Today there are 18 suppliers, with the majority in developing countries. Moving forward, the best and most sustainable way to achieve this is through the development of regional manufacturing sites producing a variety of global, regional and locally relevant vaccines, especially in Africa.
For now, though, COVAX's greatest challenge is no longer supply; it is coverage. The reality is that many countries are struggling with their rollouts to turn vaccines into vaccinations. That is where our priority must now lie—ensuring that these countries get the right vaccines and the right volumes at the right time. That means providing support so that countries can scale up their delivery systems and increase absorptive capacity and demand. This is what they will need to get doses out to people faster and ultimately achieve their targets.
Although we must help countries achieve their national targets, it's critical that we get high coverage of high-risk groups—health care workers, the elderly and those immunosuppressed or with comorbidities. Right now we estimate coverage of about 75% for health care workers and 57% for those over 60. This is not good enough. The pandemic is not yet over—far from it—so it's imperative that countries use the doses available for them to protect as much of their population as possible, starting with those most at risk. The good news is that we now have enough supply to help them not only meet these national targets but possibly even exceed them.
I'd like to end by thanking Canada for its incredible leadership, support and ongoing partnership to help make that possible.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.