The World Bank and the African Union will work together to accelerate COVID-19 vaccinations for up to 400 million people across Africa, Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday.

In a joint statement made on on 21 June 2021, The World Bank and the African Union said the agreement will provide needed resources to the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) initiative, allowing countries to purchase and deploy more vaccines.

This initiative will also complement efforts already underway by the COVAX vaccine-sharing programme, which is co-run by the WHO.

Reportedly, this new World Bank initiative comes amid shortages caused in part by manufacturing delays and supply disruptions from India, with cases and deaths rising as a third wave of COVID-19 infections sweeps across Africa.

No details were immediately available on the cost of the initiative, but the funds will reportedly come from the USD12bn the World Bank has made available for vaccine financing and distribution.

According to the World Bank, its expects to be supporting vaccination efforts in 50 countries, two thirds of which are in Africa, by the end of June 2021.