On October 18-26, 2021, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Chief Operating Officer David Marchick will travel to South Africa and India to advance DFC investments helping boost global health and expand COVID-19 vaccine production capacity throughout the developing world. DFC Vice President of Development Credit Jim Polan and other DFC senior staff will accompany the COO. While in South Africa, the DFC delegation will visit Africa Data Centres, a DFC client that is developing and expanding critical technology infrastructure throughout Africa. The delegation will tour the sterile facilities of Aspen Pharmacare, Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer, in Gqeberha (formally known as Port Elizabeth), as well as meet with other pharmaceutical manufacturers critical to the COVID-19 response.
COO Marchick and the traveling delegation will arrive in India on October 24, 2021. In Hyderabad, the delegation will visit the offices of Biological E, the Indian vaccine manufacturer, and participate in a signing ceremony to open a new facility with substantial capacity for vaccine manufacturing. This work is in support of the historic commitment set out by President Biden and his counterparts in the “Quad” – Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.
Since day one of the Biden Administration, President Biden has stated that the only way to defeat COVID-19 is to end the pandemic both at home and abroad by vaccinating Americans at home and non-Americans abroad. So far, the United States committed to donating 1.1 billion doses of vaccines and has already shipped nearly 200 million doses to developing countries – more doses than the rest of the world combined.
DFC’s financial tools are driving growth in vaccine manufacturing capacity in multiple regions, with multiple technologies and within large and small countries. Already, DFC’s support is projected to facilitate capacity expansion to produce nearly 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses across the globe by the end of 2022, with more projects in the pipeline. The agency is also working on expanding access to critical therapeutics and introducing medical equipment designed for low-resource environments under DFC’s Global Health and Prosperity Initiative.