Global access to vaccine faces huge funding gap, says WHO

Accelerating the development of and equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics for COVID-19 has been a priority for WHO since the beginning of the pandemic. “Already, we have made remarkable progress,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a media briefing last week (10 September). “Around 180 vaccines are now in development, including 35 that are in human trials. No disease in history has seen such rapid development in research.” “Now, the world’s ambition to develop these tools as fast as possible must be matched by its ambition to ensure as many people as possible have access to them.” In April, together with the European Commission and multiple other partners, WHO launched the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, to catalyse the development of and equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. The Access to COVID-19 Tools ACT-Accelerator is a global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19...