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Mormon church gives $20M to help send vaccines globally

Officials have hailed the initiative as the first time the world has delivered a highly sought-after vaccine to poor countries during an ongoing outbreak.

Credit: AP

This photograph released by UNICEF Wednesday Feb. 24, 2021, shows the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines distributed by the COVAX Facility arriving at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana. Ghana has become the first country in the world to receive vaccines acquired through the United Nations-backed COVAX initiative with a delivery of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India. (Francis Kokoroko/UNICEF via AP)

SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is giving $20 million to help a program aimed at distributing coronavirus vaccines to poorer countries around the world.

The donation from the humanitarian arm of the Utah-based faith goes to UNICEF as part of the organization's work with the United Nations-backed COVAX initiative.

That program sent its long-awaited first delivery Wednesday to Ghana.

Officials have hailed the initiative as the first time the world has delivered a highly sought-after vaccine to poor countries during an ongoing outbreak, but it has been hampered by limited global supply of doses and logistical problems.