Following a virtual meeting last week Thursday, the leaders pledged to advocate for the $35 billion (M585.2 billion) still required for the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, to realise the goal of producing two billion vaccine doses, 245 million treatments and 500 million tests.
“We acknowledge the urgency of catalysing a step-change in political support and financing for the ACT-Accelerator in order to enable it to deliver on its mission of accelerating the discovery and deployment of new COVID-19 tools to all people, everywhere,” the leaders agreed in a statement.
The ACT-Accelerator was launched in April and so far has reportedly received $2.7 billion, or less than one-tenth of the necessary financing.
The virtual assembly marked the inaugural meeting of its Facilitation Council. Lesotho was part of the august gathering.
In his keynote address, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres appealed for “a quantum leap in funding” to help get the world back on track.
“We now need $35 billion more to go from set-up to scale and impact. There is a real urgency in these numbers. Without an infusion of $15 billion over the next three months, beginning immediately, we will lose the window of opportunity,” he warned.
The ACT-Accelerator has already delivered substantial returns, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), co-organisers of the meeting, alongside the European Commission.
The UN reported that more than 170 countries are now engaged in a COVID-19 Vaccine Facility, one of four pillars under the accelerator. Ten vaccine candidates are currently being evaluated, nine of which are in clinical trials.
WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the case for bridging the funding gap, as COVID-19 continues to claim nearly 5 000 lives each day, at the current rate. Meanwhile, the global economy is expected to contract by trillions of dollars this year alone.
GLOBAL leaders, including more than 30 Heads of States and ministers have underlined their commitment towards fast-tracking the development and production of COVID-19 tests, medicines and vaccines that will be available for anyone who needs them.
