Nearly $1 billion in new financing has been committed to a global initiative that widens access to tests, treatments, and vaccines for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to the United Nations (UN).
In a statement, the UN said governments, private sector, civil society, and international organizations have committed support to the Access to COVID-19 Tools- (ACT) Accelerator initiative launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) alongside international partners.
The ACT-Accelerator, which was co-launched by the WHO, European Commission, France and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation just 5 months ago, needs an additional $35 billion to realize its goals of producing two billion vaccine doses, 245 million treatments, and 500 million tests.
The new commitments to the initiative are welcome and will be leveraged to catalyze further funding to continue the ACT-Accelerator’s groundbreaking work, the UN said in the statement.
New pledges
The recent commitments include the following:
- United Kingdom £571 million ($732 million), of which up to £500 million is to support low- and middle-income countries. This includes a commitment to match £1 for every $4 committed by others up to £250 million.
- Canada Can$440 m ($332 million), of which Can$220 million is to support low- and middle-income countries
- Germany €100 million ($117 million)
- Sweden $10 million
- World Bank $12 billion to support developing countries to purchase COVID-19 vaccines as soon as they are available (to be ratified by their shareholders)
- A coalition of 16 pharmaceutical companies and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation signed an agreement to cooperate on vaccine manufacturing and to scale up production
Most urgently, the ACT-Accelerator requires $15 billion to support immediate capacity building for research and development, manufacturing, procurement and delivery systems by the end of the year.
Convening a high-level event at the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly to urgently mobilize support for the ACT-Accelerator, Secretary-General António Guterres said more efforts are needed to further “deepen” the remarkable progress so far.
“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—a ‘people’s vaccine’ available and affordable for everyone, everywhere.”
”The ACT Accelerator including its COVAX Facility is the vehicle to get us there. Investing in the ACT Accelerator will accelerate every country’s own recovery,” said Guterres who co-hosted the event with the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, South Africa’s Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The COVAX Facility is a global risk-sharing mechanism for pooled procurement and equitable distribution of eventual COVID-19 vaccines
