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Continuing Our Work with UNICEF through Support of Equitable COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery

On behalf of its employees, Gucci will contribute to the nonprofit organization’s global equitable delivery of up to 200,000 kits

© UNICEF/UN0400713

Significant inequities in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines continue to put the global community at risk: according to the World Health Organization, about 3.6 billion people have been vaccinated with at least one dose, accounting for approximately 45% of the world’s population.

Building on our previous commitments and ongoing work with UNICEF to fight the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, on December 14, 2021, Gucci announced that, on behalf of its employees, it is supporting UNICEF’s global, equitable delivery of up to 200,000 COVID-19 vaccines to get doses from tarmacs into arms.

© UNICEF/UN0427110/Vilca

In December 2020, Gucci donated $500,000 to UNICEF, with an additional $100,000 on behalf of the Gucci Community, in support of UNICEF’s work in preparing for the roll-out of safe COVID-19 vaccines, including logistics to forecast demand, the preparation of cold chains (temperature-controlled supply chains) and the advance purchasing of supplies.

From day 1 of this pandemic – even before COVID-19 was technically defined as a pandemic – we said, with no hesitation, that only science would help us emerge from the darkness. And we made a clear commitment with these words: we are all in this together. Now, after almost two years, we believe in this affirmation, more than ever – if vaccines aren’t available to all, the pandemic will never truly end. This is why we created an internal initiative in which the entire company – all 20,000 of us at Gucci, united as one – will donate 200,000 COVID-19 vaccine kits to UNICEF, strengthening our support in ensuring that vaccines are equitably procured and distributed to the most vulnerable communities around the world.”

Marco Bizzarri, President and CEO of Gucci

The COVID-19 vaccine donation is the latest of a series of initiatives within the long-term collaboration between Gucci and UNICEF, which first started in 2005. To date, through this partnership and via all contributions gathered globally, Gucci has helped UNICEF in:

  • Procuring and delivering 600 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to 144 countries
  • Delivering more than 609,000 COVID-19 RT-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Antigen Rapid Diagnostic Tests (AgRDTs) to 55 countries
  • Conducting risk communication and community engagement activities throughout 88 countries
© UNICEF/UN0375878/Venezuela/2020/Vera

UNICEF is at the forefront of the fight to end the pandemic by distributing tests, treatments, and vaccines across the globe while combatting the spread of misinformation, especially as the pandemic continues to have a catastrophic impact on children and their families.

Find out more about UNICEF’s work on the COVID-19 vaccines here.

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