The Guardian: U.K. chairs vaccine summit against backdrop of U.S.-China battle
“Boris Johnson will urge world leaders at a virtual summit to raise $7.4bn (£5.9bn) to distribute vaccines to combat infectious diseases in some of the poorest countries of the world over the next five years. Meeting the target, Johnson said ahead of Thursday’s summit, would show that humanity could finally come together on global health after months in which it has become contested diplomatic terrain, mainly between the U.S. and China. The money will go to Gavi, the global vaccine alliance part-funded by Bill and Melinda Gates that for more than 20 years has developed and distributed vaccines in some of the world’s poorest countries for diseases such as malaria, cholera, measles, and HIV/AIDS…” (Wintour, 6/3).

Reuters: E.U. to use $2.7 billion fund to buy promising COVID-19 vaccines
“The European Union is preparing to use an emergency 2.4-billion euro ($2.7 billion) fund to make advance purchases of promising vaccines against the new coronavirus, E.U. officials told Reuters. The move was discussed at a meeting of E.U. ambassadors on Wednesday, after Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands said they were speeding up negotiations with pharmaceutical companies to secure access to vaccines currently under development. … The E.U.’s push follows moves from the United States to secure vaccines under development, including almost a third of the first 1 billion doses currently planned for AstraZeneca’s experimental COVID-19 shot. An E.U. official said it was necessary to do as the United States was doing, even if this meant losing money as many of the vaccines under development are unlikely to be eventually successful…” (Carrel et al., 6/4).

Reuters: Australia to pledge $207 million for regional vaccine program
“Australia will pledge A$300 million ($207 million) to provide vaccines to children in the Indo-Pacific region at a Global Vaccine Summit on Thursday, its foreign minister said on the eve of the virtual meeting. … Prime Minister Scott Morrison will make the pledge at the virtual summit hosted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to raise funds for the GAVI vaccine alliance, a public-private global health partnership…” (Needham, 6/4).

Reuters: Vaccine group plans advance market agreement for COVID-19 vaccines
“The GAVI vaccines alliance is to launch an Advance Market Commitment (AMC) for future COVID-19 vaccines which it says will help secure access to the new shots for poorer countries. The AMC mechanism should provide incentives to vaccine manufacturers to invest in large scale production capacity even as they develop new products and before full-scale trials have shown whether they work, GAVI’s Chief Executive Officer Seth Berkley told Reuters…” (Kelland, 6/3).

The Telegraph: Donors urged to dig deep to deliver Covid-19 vaccines to the world’s poorest children
“…Russia, the U.S., and China are all hoped to be attending the virtual summit in a show of global solidarity over access to vaccines — though Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he would not be personally attending. … The U.K. has already pledged £1.65 billion over the next five years, making it the organization’s biggest donor. Over the last five years the U.K. contributed the equivalent of £1.44bn. This new U.K. pledge will enable Gavi to vaccinate 75 million children…” (Newey/Gulland, 6/3).

Additional coverage of the vaccine summit is available from AFP, BBC, DW, Financial Times, and Reuters.