Japan and Gavi: Its Global Health Diplomacy for the COVAX Facility

In terms of vaccine diplomacy, the Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), has made significant contributions toward immunizing the world’s children against infectious diseases since its inception in 2000. From the perspective of Japan’s global health diplomacy, its commitment to the “COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access” (COVAX) Facility has been of significance in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. COVAX is a vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), and co-led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Given the significance of Gavi and the COVAX Facility as a facilitator and facility of global health, this chapter examines Japan’s contributions to Gavi and the COVAX Facility.