World leaders pledged on Friday to accelerate work on tests,
drugs and vaccines against COVID-19 and to share them around the
globe, but the United States did not take part in the launch of the
World Health Organization (WHO) initiative.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa were among those
who joined a video conference to launch what the WHO billed as a
“landmark collaboration” to fight the pandemic.
According to Reuters, the aim is to speed development of safe
and effective drugs, tests and vaccines to prevent, diagnose and
treat COVID-19, the lung disease caused be the novel coronavirus –
and ensure equal access to treatments for rich and poor.
“We are facing a common threat which we can only defeat with a
common approach,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
said as he opened the virtual meeting.
“Experience has told us that even when tools are available they
have not been equally available to all. We cannot allow that to
happen.”
During the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009, there was criticism
that distribution of vaccines was not equitable as wealthier
countries were able to purchase more.
“We must make sure that people who need them get them,” said
Peter Sands, head of the Global Fund to Fight on AIDS, tuberculosis
and malaria. “The lessons from AIDS must be learned. Too many
millions died before anti-retroviral medicines were made widely
accessible.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the
objective at a global pledging effort on May 4 would be to raise
7.5 billion euros ($8.10 billion) to ramp up work on prevention,
diagnostics and treatment.
“This is a first step only, but more will be needed in the
future,” von der Leyen told the conference.
Leaders from Asia, the Middle East and the Americas also joined
the videoconference, but several big countries did not participate,
including China, India and Russia.
A spokesman for the U.S. mission in Geneva had earlier told
Reuters that the United States would not be involved.
“Although the United States was not in attendance at the meeting
in question, there should be no doubt about our continuing
determination to lead on global health matters, including the
current COVID crisis,” he said by email.
“We remain deeply concerned about the WHO’s effectiveness, given
that its gross failures helped fuel the current pandemic,” he later
said.
World leaders pledged on Friday to accelerate work on tests,
drugs and vaccines against COVID-19 and to share them around the
globe, but the United States did not take part in the launch of the
World Health Organization (WHO) initiative.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa were among those
who joined a video conference to launch what the WHO billed as a
“landmark collaboration” to fight the pandemic.
According to Reuters, the aim is to speed development of safe
and effective drugs, tests and vaccines to prevent, diagnose and
treat COVID-19, the lung disease caused be the novel coronavirus –
and ensure equal access to treatments for rich and poor.
“We are facing a common threat which we can only defeat with a
common approach,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
said as he opened the virtual meeting.
“Experience has told us that even when tools are available they
have not been equally available to all. We cannot allow that to
happen.”
During the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009, there was criticism
that distribution of vaccines was not equitable as wealthier
countries were able to purchase more.
“We must make sure that people who need them get them,” said
Peter Sands, head of the Global Fund to Fight on AIDS, tuberculosis
and malaria. “The lessons from AIDS must be learned. Too many
millions died before anti-retroviral medicines were made widely
accessible.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the
objective at a global pledging effort on May 4 would be to raise
7.5 billion euros ($8.10 billion) to ramp up work on prevention,
diagnostics and treatment.
“This is a first step only, but more will be needed in the
future,” von der Leyen told the conference.
Leaders from Asia, the Middle East and the Americas also joined
the videoconference, but several big countries did not participate,
including China, India and Russia.
A spokesman for the U.S. mission in Geneva had earlier told
Reuters that the United States would not be involved.
“Although the United States was not in attendance at the meeting
in question, there should be no doubt about our continuing
determination to lead on global health matters, including the
current COVID crisis,” he said by email.
“We remain deeply concerned about the WHO’s effectiveness, given
that its gross failures helped fuel the current pandemic,” he later
said.