March 25, 2021
U.S. Government Supports COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment in South Sudan
Juba, South Sudan – The United States congratulates South Sudan on the successful start of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign on March 25. This campaign was made possible through the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a global initiative to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. The United States recently provided an initial $2 billion—out of a total planned $4 billion— to COVAX, making the United States the single largest contributor to the international response to COVID-19. These commitments build on a long tradition of U.S. contributions to global health, totaling more than $140 billion over the past two decades.
Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. contribution to COVAX supports the purchase and delivery of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for the world’s most vulnerable and at-risk populations in 92 low- and middle-income countries. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is providing technical assistance to the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the vaccination campaign. This support is critical to controlling the pandemic, slowing the emergence of new variants, and helping to restart the global economy. The rapid spread of COVID-19 has demonstrated that no nation can act alone against a global pandemic. We must vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.
In South Sudan, the U.S. government, through USAID and the CDC, has provided nearly $48 million in assistance for the COVID-19 response. These funds are supporting humanitarian assistance, expanding the training of health workers, and strengthening health facilities’ and communities’ capabilities to manage COVID-19 cases.
The CDC is also providing technical assistance and approximately $11 million in funding toward implementation support, specifically emergency preparedness and response efforts, laboratory testing, contact tracing, home-based care, data management, vaccine monitoring and evaluation and human resource capacity building. The U.S. Government is also working through implementing partners and with the Ministry of Health to build medium- to long-term technical capacity and provide support in the above areas.
The United States will continue to work as a partner to South Sudan and the global community to address the challenge of COVID-19. This challenge gives us an opportunity not only to get through the current crisis, but also to become more prepared and resilient for the future.
