Glanbia Co-op and Glanbia Ireland have made a €20,000 donation to UNICEF Ireland in support of its global vaccination campaign, ‘Get a Vaccine, Give a Vaccine’.

This initiative, according to UNICEF, supports its role in the global Covid-19 vaccine rollout, and is the biggest vaccine procurement and distribution drive in history.

Peter Power, UNICEF Ireland executive director, explained:

“UNICEF is currently leading the largest-ever vaccine procurement and supply operation, as part of the global COVAX facility.

“Vaccinating the entire world can only be done at the scale UNICEF offers. Covid-19 vaccines are rolling out at pace, with over 975 million doses delivered to 144 countries via the COVAX facility so far.”

The COVAX facility is the only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure Covid-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries.

With the support of Glanbia Ireland, co-op members and many other supporters worldwide, UNICEF aims to reach 3 billion Covid-19 vaccine deliveries to the most vulnerable families, health workers and high-risk people on our planet by the end of 2022.

Glanbia Ireland and Glanbia Co-op chair, John Murphy, said:

“Covid-19 has impacted all of our lives. It has been a tough and a challenging time for all of us.

“But the impact has been even greater in less developed parts of the world where vaccines are not available and the most vulnerable families, health workers and high-risk people have suffered even more.

“Our co-op roots run deep in all of our communities. Our board, therefore, felt that it is only fitting that we would do our best to ensure that the world’s most vulnerable people are not at further risk, and that Glanbia Co-op and Glanbia Ireland would make a €20,000 donation to the UNICEF programme on behalf of our farm families.

“Nobody is safe until everyone is safe and no child is safe until everyone they rely on is safe,” he said.

Children’s lives

UNICEF has been coordinating vaccine delivery to communities globally since 1948 and, as a result, has the cold chain and other critical infrastructure in place which make it uniquely placed to deliver.

UNICEF was asked to join COVAX in 2020 by partners the World Health Organization, Gavi The Vaccine Alliance, and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, due to its expertise in procuring half the world’s vaccines for children under five every year.

After Gavi, the WHO or countries have paid for the vaccine doses themselves, €4.48 allows UNICEF to deliver two doses of Covid-19 vaccine from the point of arrival in-country to the individual, in countries facing humanitarian crisis.