UN welcomes nearly $1bn raised to fight Covid-19
Nearly $1 billion in new financing has been committed to the Access to Covid-19 Tools – (ACT) Accelerator in what’s being described as a show of solidarity by governments, private sector, civil society and international organisations.
The ACT-Accelerator was co-launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO) European Commission, France, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to speed up collaborative efforts into Covid-19 tests, treatments and vaccines. It’s goal of producing 2 billion vaccine doses, 245 million treatments and 500 million tests requires an additional $35 million in funding. The Accelerator hopes to fairly distribute 2 billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021.
The ACT-Accelerator needs $15 billion by the end of the year to support immediate capacity-building—for research and development, manufacturing, procurement and delivery systems.
The funding comes off the back of the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly, during which secretary-general António Guterres commended the “extraordinary international effort to address a human crisis like no other in our lifetimes,” adding that more efforts must be made 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 Mr Guterres who co-hosted the event with the United Kingdom’s foreign secretary Dominic Raab, South Africa’s health minister Zweli Mkhize, and the director-general of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Speaking at the event, UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab called for more support, stating that “we have a duty to ensure vaccines, treatments and tests for COVID-19 are available to all—stopping the global spread of the pandemic protects the British people and will put humanity on the road to recovery.”
The UK recently committed up to £571 million for Covax, the majority of which goes to the the Gavi Advanced Market Commitment for Covid-19 (COVAX AMC) vaccines—a financing instrument that incentivises vaccine manufacturers to produce sufficient Covid-19 vaccines to ensure access for developing countries. During his speech, Raab pledged that £500 million of the UK’s funding would include £1 in matched funding for every $4 committed by others for up to £250 million.
Germany, Canada and Sweden also made new commitments to the COVAX AMC of Euro 100 million, CAD$ 220 million and US$ 10 million respectively. These are eligible for matching with today’s UK matching commitment.
”Science is giving us solutions, in the form of new tests, therapeutics and—hopefully—a vaccine. But science and solutions will be ineffective without solidarity,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
“I am grateful for the generous financial commitments made today, but we still have a significant funding gap to close. Fully financing the ACT Accelerator will help to control the pandemic, restore confidence and stimulate the global recovery. Frankly, this is not a financial challenge, it’s a test of solidarity. This is a moment for saying no to nationalism and yes to our shared humanity. Because ultimately, the ACT Accelerator is not delivering merely vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. It’s delivering something far more important—hope.”
Another show of support saw 16 pharmaceutical companies and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation sign an agreement to co-operate on vaccine manufacturing and to scale up production to ensure that approved vaccines are more broadly accessible and distributed as early as possible.
Bill Gates, co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said” “One thing I've learned studying the history of pandemics is that they create a surprising dynamic when it comes to self-interest and altruism. Pandemics are rare cases where a country’s instinct to help itself is tightly aligned with its instinct to help others. The self-interested thing and the altruistic thing–making sure poor nations have access to vaccines–are one and the same.”
“A number of countries, most recently the United Kingdom and Canada, are good models for what other wealthy nations should do. They have donated enough money for COVAX, the vaccine pillar of the ACT-Accelerator, to procure, probably, hundreds of millions of vaccine doses for poor countries. But more will be needed and I hope wealthy nations will continue to be generous.”
South Africa’s health minister Zweli Mkhize spoke about the need of ensuring tests, treatments and vaccines are distributed equitably “to people who most need them, regardless of where they live and whether their country is wealthy or not.” He added that large parts of the population especially in developing countries remain “vulnerable and marginalised during this pandemic.”
The World Bank unveiled plans this week for a significant financial commitment to support developing countries to purchase Covid-19 vaccines as soon as they are available.
World Bank President David Malpass said that once the plans are ratified by stakeholders, “having up to US$ 12 billion available in finance will be a game changer because once a safe and effective vaccine is available, it will allow people to resume their lives with confidence.”
A full investment into the ACT-Accelerator would be paid back in less than 36 hours according to its rationale, due to it helping shorten the duration of the pandemic and help restore global mobility and trading.