The World Health Organization (WHO), the lead organization of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, announced on Feb. 19, that there has been significant commitment from nations meeting at the G7 and the Munich Security Conference in recognizing that “no country can be safe until every country is safe and collectively committed over $4.3 billion to the ACT Accelerator partnership to develop and distribute effective tests, treatments, and vaccines around the world.” [https://www.who.int/news/item/19-02-2021-g7-leaders-commit-us-4.3-billion-to-finance-global-equitable-access-to-tests-treatments-and-vaccines-in-2021]
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “I thank the U.S., Germany, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, Japan, and Canada for their significant funding commitments. Today’s news shows us solidarity prevails; we can turn a corner on this pandemic by funding the only global solution to end it. History will judge us collectively and I welcome the words of support from today’s G7 Leaders and the Munich Security Council for again highlighting to the world that we have to solve this together.”
However, this still represents a shortfall of about $22.9 billion in fully funding the ACT-Accelerator partnership, which “is a groundbreaking global collaboration to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines.
