Global leaders which include over 30 Heads of State and Ministers, have assured of their commitment towards accelerating the development and production of Covid-19 tests, medicines and vaccines, which will be available to every country who needs them. In a virtual meeting on Thursday, the leaders pledged to campaign for the still required $35 billion for the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT-Accelerator), which is the cost of producing two billion Covid-19 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,” they said.

The ACT-Accelerator which was launched in April has received $2.7 billion till now. It is less than one-tenth of the necessary financing. The virtual meeting marked the inaugural convention of its Facilitation Council.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for “a quantum leap in funding” to help tackle the pandemic and get the world on track again.

“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 said.

According to the WHO, the co-organisers of the meeting with the European Commission, the ACT-Accelerator has delivered returns substantially.

The UN agency said that over 170 countries are now participating in a COVID-19 Vaccine Facility, which is one of the four pillars under the accelerator. Ten vaccine candidates are under evaluation currently, nine of which are in clinical trials.

WAM