More than $ 30 billion will be needed to develop tests, vaccines and treatments for Covid-19, the World Health Organization said Friday, ahead of a donor conference.
The international initiative (dubbed ACT Accelerator) launched in late April by the WHO and its partners to accelerate the development, production and equitable access to new diagnostics, therapies and vaccines against the new coronavirus will need “31.3 billion dollars over the next 12 months, “the agency said in a statement. To date, $ 3.4 billion has been pledged. “It therefore requires an additional $ 27.9 billion, including $ 13.7 billion to cover immediate needs,” said WHO.
“This is an investment that is worth making. If we do not mobilize now, the human costs and the economic repercussions will worsen,” said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the special envoy for the international initiative, during a press conference. “Although these figures seem important, they are not when we think of the alternative. If we spend billions now, we can avoid spending thousands of billions later. We must act now, and together”, a she added. Funds are expected to develop and distribute 500 million tests and 245 million treatments in low- and middle-income countries by mid-2021, and 2 billion doses of vaccine worldwide, half of which are in low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2021.
“It is clear that to master Covid-19 and save lives, we need effective vaccines, diagnostics and therapies, in unprecedented volumes and at unprecedented speed,” said the executive director of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “And it is clear that, since everyone can be affected by Covid-19, everyone should have access to all the prevention, detection and treatment tools, and not only those who can afford them “, he added.
The new coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 487,274 people worldwide since China officially reported the disease in December, AFP said on Friday. Donors’ conference to be held on Saturday alongside a major virtual concert, where music megastars – such as Shakira, Coldplay, Usher or Justin Bieber – will mobilize to support fundraising in medical research against the Covid-19.
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More than $ 30 billion will be needed to develop tests, vaccines and treatments for Covid-19, the World Health Organization said Friday, ahead of a donor conference.
The international initiative (called ACT Accelerator) launched in late April by WHO and its partners to accelerate development, production …
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