Financial planning is crucial for Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Millions of vaccine deliveries are planned for later this year and African countries must urgently plan ahead to quickly roll them out and avoid unplanned costs. The World Bank estimates that each month of delay in the provision of COVID-19 vaccines could cost Africa US$ 14 billion in lost GDP. 

Most African countries have financial plans in place to vaccinate the first 3% of their populations, but early evidence shows that many plans do not include the larger, more geographically spread follow-on phases. 

For every dollar spent on buying vaccines, around 60% is needed for supporting operations like hiring vaccinators, cold chain storage and logistics and transportation, yet many financial plans overlook these crucial costs.

COVAX, the World Bank and other partners can provide millions more dollars to African countries, but governments must have robust costing plans in place to access the funds.

The COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction and Deployment Costing Tool (CVIC), is key to helping countries determine their funding needs and can help unlock more funds for the roll out COVID-19 vaccines. 

The COVID-19 vaccine delivery cost estimation tool provides the first step to a well-structured budget. It aims to help governments and partners estimate the incremental introductory and deployment cost of procuring and administering COVID-19 vaccines. 

With an easy to use checklist, the tool focuses on the target populations to cover, while factoring in existing health financing and planning and coordination structures, international and domestic logistics, service delivery and demand generation and communications with the population. It also helps governments map resources from both domestic and international sources. 

The tool offers a quick yet comprehensive estimate of incremental costs, so no hidden expenses are found. It also aligns with the guidance of National Deployment and Vaccination Plans for COVID-19 vaccines. With a completed CVIC tool, African countries can request more resources through the WHO COVID-19 Partners Platform. 

The tool is available in English, French, Portuguese and other official UN languages. Technical support is available from the WHO COVID-19 Vaccine Costing Team at CVICosting [at] who.int