Japan will contribute an additional $70 million to an international framework to help ensure fair access to coronavirus vaccines for developing countries, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Tuesday.

The additional funds bring Japan's total disbursement to the Covax Facility to $200 million, part of the $300 million that Japan offered last year to Gavi, the global vaccine alliance that co-leads the facility, for five years from 2021.

"To overcome the novel coronavirus, international cooperation, especially through multilateral frameworks, is important," Motegi said in a video message at a virtual meeting of ACT-Accelerator, an international initiative to speed up the development and distribution of treatment drugs and vaccines.

Gavi said last week the Covax Facility aims to start delivery of the coronavirus vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc. to 145 countries and regions, mostly developing nations, as early as this month.