AVAT launches new scheme for Covid-19 vaccine compensation

The African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) has established a No-Fault Compensation Scheme for COVID-19 vaccines in participating countries in Africa and the Caribbean.

AVAT acts as a centralised purchasing agent on behalf of the African Union Member States, to secure the necessary vaccines and blended financing resources for achieving Africa’s COVID-19 vaccination strategy. AVAT has already secured several hundred million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for which deployment began in Q3 2021.

The AVAT No-Fault Compensation Scheme (AVAT NFCS) was officially launched in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on 22 March 2022.

Read also: Alliance berates proposed terms of IP waiver on COVID vaccines

The AVAT NFCS provides eligible individuals with prompt, fair and transparent compensation for unlikely adverse events associated with COVID-19 vaccines procured or distributed under the AVAT initiative.

AVAT was established by the COVID-19 African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, which was set up in November 2020 by President Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa, in his capacity as Chairperson of the African Union (AU), as a support component to the COVID-19 Immunisation Strategy that was endorsed by the AU Bureau of Heads of State and Government in August 2020.

AVAT’s institutional partners are the African Union, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).