Gucci donates $500,000 to UNICEF to help supply COVID vaccines

MILAN (Reuters) - Luxury brand Gucci, owned by French group Kering, will give at least $500,000 (£370,900) to UNICEF to help supply and distribute COVID-19 vaccines to vulnerable people around the world, it said on Friday.

In addition to the $500,000 donation, Gucci said it would match money raised for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) by up to $100,000, and invited its followers to donate through the platform https://gucci.benevity.org/community between Dec. 5 and 26.

The U.N. agency is raising funds for COVAX, a programme, led by the World Health Organization and the GAVI vaccine group, to pool funds from wealthier countries and non-profit organisations to buy and distribute vaccines to poorer countries. COVAX has so far raised $2 billion.

Gucci's cash will fund activities such as the supply of test kits to curb community transmission, cold chain equipment to keep doses of vaccines effective and the transport of vaccines.

(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi; editing by Barbara Lewis)