February 24, 2020 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks
during an update on the situation regarding the COVID-19 in the
SHOC room (Strategic health operations centre) at the World Health
Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva. SALVATORE DI NOLFI /
POOL / AFP
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Wednesday
for an “immediate infusion” of $15 billion to a global pool for the
procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines at a virtual
summit hosted by the world body.
The ACT-Accelerator, led by the World Health Organization, has
received around $3 billion of the $38 billion needed to meet the
goal of producing and delivering two billion vaccine doses, 245
million treatments and 500 million diagnostic tests over the next
year.
Notable new pledges included an additional 100 million euros
($117 million) by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, beyond the 675
million euros Germany has already committed.
Britain’s foreign minister Dominic Raab said his country, which
has committed 250 million pounds ($320 million), would spend
another pound for every four dollars committed by others, up to an
additional 250 million pounds.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven pledged $10 million while
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touted a Can$440 million
($332 million) commitment made last week, half of which will go to
low or middle-income countries.
The World Bank’s president David Malpass said he had proposed
“up to $12 billion of fast-track financing” to countries for the
purchase and deployment of Covid-19 vaccine, also previously
announced.
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– ‘Window of opportunity’ – “These resources are crucial now to
avoid losing the window of opportunity for advance purchase and
production, to build stocks in parallel with licensing, to boost
research, and to help countries prepare to optimize the new
vaccines when they arrive,” Guterres said.
“Despite extraordinary efforts to contain its spread, the
Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage the world, reaching one
million lives lost this week,” he added.
“It is in every country’s national and economic self-interest to
work together to massively expand access to tests and treatments,
and to support a vaccine as a global public good.”
Addressing the summit, Bill Gates announced his foundation had
signed a new agreement with 16 biotech firms to expand global
access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.
Gates said that the world was on the brink of a “great
scientific achievement” in the form of a vaccine.
But he added that the world’s low and low middle income
countries, which made up nearly half of the global population, were
only on track to cover 14 percent of their people with a Covid-19
vaccine.
Alex Gorsky, the CEO of Johnson and Johnson, which is part of
the agreement with the Gates Foundation, told the summit his
company planned to allocate 500 million vaccine doses for lower
income countries by the middle of next year.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said he was “grateful
for the generous financial commitments made” but added there
remained a “significant funding gap to close.”
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