A staff member places a Sinovac Biotech Ltd coronavirus vaccine candidate on its booth for display during the 2020 China International Trade in Services Fair (CIFTIS), following the COVID-19 outbreak, in Beijing, China, on September 5, 2020. REUTERS / Tingshu Wang
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged countries to find $ 15 billion over the next three months to fund the ACT-Accelerator program, a global collaboration to seek a vaccine and treatments led by the World Health Organization. (WHO) of the UN.
- AFP Geneva
- Last update: September 10, 2020 9:43 PM IST
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The United Nations on Thursday called for an immediate “quantum leap” in funding global programs to fight the coronavirus and restore prosperity.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged countries to find $ 15 billion over the next three months to fund the ACT-Accelerator program, a global collaboration to seek a vaccine and treatments led by the World Health Organization. (WHO) of the UN.
“Either we stand together or we will be doomed,” Guterres told a virtual ACT-Accelerator meeting, calling the virus the “number one global security threat.”
“We need a quantum leap in funding to increase the chances of a global solution to get the world moving, working and thriving again,” he said.
He said the nearly $ 3 billion contributed so far had been critical to the startup phase since the accelerator’s launch four months ago, but an additional $ 35 billion was needed to move from startup to expansion, starting with $ 15 billion in the next three. months.
Without it “we will lose the window of opportunity,” Guterres said. She said typical aid budgets would not cover the costs, urging donors to “dig deep” into the money set aside to fight the coronavirus.
‘Start saving lives’
The virus has killed more than 900,000 people and infected at least 27.9 million since the outbreak in China emerged last December.
According to the latest WHO summary, 35 candidate vaccines for the virus are being tested in humans, of which nine have reached Phase III trials where they are tested in tens of thousands of people.
Another 145 candidate vaccines are in earlier testing phases. Usually only about 10 percent of candidate vaccines are successful.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the speed at which vaccines, diagnostics and treatments for Covid-19 were being developed was “astonishing” but said more needed to be done.
“We need to rapidly expand our clinical trial, manufacturing, licensing and regulatory capacity so that these products can reach people and start saving lives,” he said.
South Africa and Norway co-chair the ACT-Accelerator facilitation council.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who chairs the African Union, told the meeting that the continent “must not be left behind” once a viable vaccine is produced.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame called the ACT-Accelerator “one of the most important international initiatives taking place in the world today, and perhaps never”.
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