United Nations welcomes Pledge in Donations for Facilitating Tools, Treatments, Vaccines to End COVID-19 Epidemic

United Nations welcomes recent pledge of nearly $1 billion in donations aimed at facilitating access to life-saving testing tools, treatments and vaccines to end the COVID-19 epidemic

As the pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 1 million people, governments, international organizations and the private sector have made new commitments to support the accelerated plan to respond with unprecedented scale, scope and speed through access to COVID-19 tools and promote global solidarity Unanimously, end the pandemic.

 

COVAX pillar of the ACT 

Overview of recent commitments:

United Kingdom-Commit to provide 571 million pounds ($732 million) for the COVAX pillar of the COVID-19 Tool (ACT) Acceleration Program, of which up to 500 million pounds ($641 million) will be used to support low- and middle-income countries. 

This includes a matching pledge that for every US$4 from other countries, the United Kingdom will donate £1, and a matching donation of up to 250 million pounds (321 million US dollars).

Canada-Commitment to provide 440 million Canadian dollars (332 million US dollars) for the COVAX pillar of the ACT acceleration plan, of which 220 million Canadian dollars (166 million US dollars) will be used to support low- and middle-income countries

Germany-Commit to provide 100 million euros (117 million US dollars) for the COVAX pillar of the ACT acceleration program, all of which will be used to support low- and middle-income countries

Sweden-pledged to provide US$10 million for the COVAX pillar of the ACT acceleration program, all of which will be used to support low- and middle-income countries.

World Bank-Commitment to provide 12 billion to Purchase COVID Vaccine

World Bank-Commitment to provide 12 billion US dollars to support developing countries to purchase the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible after the launch (subject to shareholder approval)

16 pharmaceutical companies and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation signed an agreement to collaborate on vaccine manufacturing and expansion

Today governments, private sectors, civil society and international organizations have demonstrated a great spirit of solidarity and pledged to support the Acceleration Plan for Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) initiated by the World Health Organization and international partners. The United Nations and its partners expressed this welcome.

 

This accelerated plan is the most comprehensive end-to-end multilateral solution to the devastating COVID-19 pandemic in the world, and today it received nearly $1 billion in new funding commitments.

 

Acceleration Plan for Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT)

The ACT acceleration plan was jointly initiated by the World Health Organization, the European Commission, France, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation five months ago. It now requires an additional $35 billion to produce 2 billion doses of vaccine and provide 245 million. 

The goal of a course of treatment and 500 million tests. These new pledges of donations are encouraging and can be used to promote further funding so that the pioneering work of the ACT Acceleration Program can be continued.

 

The most urgent thing is that the ACT acceleration plan requires US$15 billion to support immediate capacity building for R&D, manufacturing, procurement and delivery systems before the end of the year.

 

Urgently mobilize support for the ACT acceleration plan

Secretary-General António Guterres convened a high-level event during the 75th session of the UN General Assembly to urgently mobilize support for the ACT acceleration plan. 

He praised "the extraordinary efforts the international community has done in response to this unprecedented human crisis." Efforts” and added that more efforts must be made to further “deepen” the remarkable progress made so far.

 

"To work together to expand the coverage of testing and treatment on a large scale, and to support the use of vaccines as a global public product, a "people's vaccine" that is accessible and affordable to everyone around the world. This is in the national and economic interests of each country. ".

 

Mr. Guterres said: "The ACT acceleration plan, including its COVAX mechanism, is a tool to help us achieve our goals." He co-sponsored the event with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros.

 

Unprecedented global cooperation for COVID Pandemic

The ACT Acceleration Program was just launched five months ago. It is an unprecedented global collaboration of top international organizations in the health field to jointly accelerate the development, production and fair delivery of COVID-19 testing tools, therapeutic drugs and vaccines.

 

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “We have a responsibility to ensure that everyone has access to vaccines, treatments and testing tools against COVID-19. 

If we can prevent this pandemic from spreading globally, we can protect the British people and make Human beings are on the road to recovery. Cooperation through the ACT Acceleration Program is essential to promote development, production and access in all countries."

The United Kingdom recently pledged to provide COVAX funds

The UK recently pledged to provide COVAX with up to 571 million pounds (about 732 million US dollars) of funds, of which up to 500 million pounds will be used to support the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization COVID-19 Vaccine Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC). 

This is a financing tool designed to incentivize vaccine manufacturers to produce enough COVID-19 vaccine to ensure that developing countries can obtain it.

 

Today, the British Foreign Secretary called for more support, promising that the 500 million pounds pledged will include a matching pledge, that is, for every 4 US dollars from other countries, the UK will donate 1 pound (1.29 US dollars), and a matching donation of 250 million pounds at most (About 321 million US dollars).

 

Germany, Canada and Sweden make new commitments of 100 million euros to COVID-19 Vaccination

Germany, Canada and Sweden also made new commitments of 100 million euros, 220 million Canadian dollars and 10 million US dollars to COVAX AMC respectively. These are in line with the conditions of the matching pledge made by the UK today.

 

WHO Director-General Dr. Tan Desai said: "Science is providing us with solutions in the form of new detection tools, treatments, and hopefully there are vaccines. However, without unity, science and solutions will be ineffective." .

 

"I am grateful for the generous funding commitments made today, but there is still a huge funding gap to fill. Full funding of the ACT acceleration plan will help control the pandemic, restore confidence, and stimulate global recovery. Frankly speaking, this is not a financial challenge. This is a test of unity. 

At this moment, we must abandon nationalism and unite for the common destiny of mankind. In the end, the ACT acceleration plan will not only provide vaccines, diagnostic tools and treatments, but also deliver more important things. This is hope."

 

South Africa’s Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize said: “We must deal with this health crisis as a global challenge, unite and cooperate with each other to find global solutions. We must develop the key testing tools, therapies and therapies that everyone needs. 

Vaccines, and ensure that they are fairly distributed to those most in need, no matter where they live or whether their country is rich or not." He added that a large part of the population, especially the population of developing countries, "is still vulnerable and marginalized during this pandemic."

 

Today’s event highlighted the substantial results of the ACT Acceleration Program since its inception, including: providing 120 million affordable and high-quality rapid tests for low- and middle-income countries.

Dexamethasone

Dexamethasone (the only trial of drugs that have a significant impact on mortality has made breakthroughs and has been quickly promoted. The COVAX mechanism was created, which is a global mechanism to ensure fair access to the final COVID-19 vaccine regardless of income status. 

The mechanism now includes 168 economies and has the world's largest and most diverse vaccine portfolio. Nine vaccine candidates are under evaluation, of which eight are currently in clinical trials.

 

Another important support measure is that 16 pharmaceutical companies and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have signed an agreement to cooperate in vaccine production and expand production at an unprecedented rate to ensure that more Widely provide and distribute approved vaccines as soon as possible.

 

Pandemic has an amazing impetus for both selfishness and altruism

Bill Gates, co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said: "Through studying the history of the pandemic, I found that the pandemic has an amazing impetus for both self-interest and altruism. A pandemic is rare. 

A country’s instinct for self-help is closely coordinated with its instinct to help others. Ensuring that poor countries can obtain vaccines is in their own interests as well as the interests of others. The two are completely consistent here."

 

"Some countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada recently, have set good examples for other wealthy countries. These countries have donated enough funds to COVAX, the vaccine pillar of the ACT acceleration plan, and it is likely that hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines can be purchased for poor countries. 

But still More funds are needed, and I hope that rich countries can continue to donate generously."

 

Pandemic Creating Corona virus

The World Bank announced a series of plans for a major financial commitment this week to support developing countries to purchase the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible after the launch.

 

World Bank President David Malpass stated that once these plans are approved by stakeholders, “up to US$12 billion in funding will change the status quo, because once a safe and effective vaccine is available, people can resume their lives with confidence. ".

 

Invest in global recovery

The investment demonstration of the ACT Acceleration Program illustrates the considerable economic benefits of collectively accelerating the development and deployment of tools to rapidly reduce the global risk of severe COVID-19. 

Before the United Nations General Assembly in 2020, the ACT Acceleration Program has raised $3 billion of its total funding needs of $38 billion. For more details, please refer to the investment demonstration of the ACT acceleration plan.

 

The economic justification for investing in a method that can accelerate the end of the COVID-19 crisis is obvious. As long as global flows and trade resume, all funds provided for this initiative to help shorten the duration of the crisis can be repaid within 36 hours.

 

Acceleration Plan for Acquiring COVID-19 Tools (ACT)

The Acceleration Plan for Acquiring COVID-19 Tools (ACT) is a proven and running global cooperation project aimed at accelerating the development, production and fair access to COVID-19 testing tools, therapeutic drugs and vaccines. 

The plan was established in response to a call from the leaders of the Group of Twenty in March, and was launched in April 2020 by the WHO, the European Commission, France, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

 

The ACT Acceleration Plan is not a decision-making body or a new organization, but is dedicated to speeding up cooperation efforts between existing organizations to end this pandemic.

 This is a cooperation framework that aims to unite the main actors to accelerate the development, fair distribution and expansion of the delivery of testing tools, therapeutic drugs and vaccines, with a view to ending the pandemic as soon as possible, thereby protecting the health system and restoring social and economic operations as soon as possible.

 

The plan draws on the experience of some of the world's leading health organizations. These organizations are responding to the world's most severe health challenges. Through joint efforts, they have been able to achieve new and more ambitious results on the COVID-19 issue. 

The members of the ACT Acceleration Program jointly pledge to ensure that everyone has access to all the tools needed to defeat COVID-19 and work together to achieve this goal in an unprecedented partnership.

 

The ACT acceleration plan includes four pillars: diagnostic tools, treatment methods, vaccines, and strengthening the health system.

The diagnostic pillar is jointly led by the Global Fund and the Foundation for Promoting Innovative Diagnostic Methods, focusing on launching 2-3 high-quality rapid test tools to the market, training 10,000 health care professionals in 50 countries, and providing services by mid-2021 500 million people in low- and middle-income countries are tested.

 

The treatment pillar is led by the International Drug Procurement Mechanism and the Wellcome Trust.

 Treatment can play a role in all stages of the COVID-19 disease, including preventing infection; suppressing symptoms and spreading infection to others; treating or preventing symptoms, saving the lives of critically ill patients; and speeding up recovery. 

The goal for the next 12 months is to develop, manufacture and distribute 245 million treatment courses to help COVID-19 patients recover.

 

Conclusion

The vaccine pillar is led by the Epidemic Prevention Innovation Alliance, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and WHO, and is now accelerating the pace to find effective vaccines for all countries. At the same time, it is still supporting the building of manufacturing capacity and purchasing supplies in advance so that 2 billion doses of vaccine can be distributed fairly by the end of 2021.

 

The health system connectivity pillar is led by the World Bank and the Global Fund, and efforts are being made to ensure that those in need have access to these tools.

 

The acquisition and distribution work under the auspices of the World Health Organization cuts across all these areas.