Spring Meetings

Aurélia Nguyen, Managing Director of the COVAX Facility and Sabina Bhatia, Deputy Secretary of the IMF, discuss the challenges of vaccine procurement and distribution, and highlight the need for international cooperation to secure global and equitable access to vaccines. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF, will give opening remarks.

#IMFInspired

Kristalina Georgieva is the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She is the first person from an emerging market economy to lead the IMF since its inception in 1944. Before joining the Fund, Ms. Georgieva was Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank and also served as Interim President for a time. Previously, she served at the European Commission as Vice President for Budget and Human Resources – and as Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. She was named “European of the Year” and “Commissioner of the Year” by European Voice for her leadership in the European Union’s humanitarian response to crises.

As Managing Director of the Office of the COVAX Facility, Aurélia Nguyen leads the coordination of procurement and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines for 190 economies through COVAX, the only global initiative working with governments and manufacturers worldwide to ensure fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. Previously, Aurélia served as Gavi’s Managing Director for Vaccines & Sustainability. Prior to joining Gavi, Aurélia held a variety of posts within GlaxoSmithKline, where latterly she led the development of GSK’s policies on access to medicines and vaccines in the developing world. She has also undertaken research for the World Health Organization (WHO) on generic medicines policies. Aurélia is a certified accountant and holds a Master’s degree in Health Policy, Planning & Financing from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the London School of Economics. In 2021, Aurélia was named to the TIME100 Next list.

Sabina Bhatia, a national of India, is Deputy Secretary of the IMF. Prior to that, she was Assistant Director in the Communications Department. Sabina has a B.A. from Calcutta University and an M.A. in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University.