Governments and other organizations raised US$ 8.8 billion at Global Vaccine Summit

The Global Vaccine Summit hosted in the UK was successful in raising US$ 8.8 billion, more than the expected target of US$ 7.4 billion. The fund will be used to develop vaccines against COVID19 and immunize 300 million children across the world. The children will be vaccinated against measles, polio, and diphtheria by the end of 2025.

US$ 567 million was also raised to provide COVID19 vaccines in low and middle-income countries.

Representatives from 52 different countries, including the heads, joined the summit. The UK government pledged £330 million per year over the next five years. The other major donors are Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Norway, Germany, and the United States. Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Finland, Greece, New Zealand, Portugal, and Uganda joined the conference for the first time.

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“To beat the COVID-19 pandemic, the world needs more than breakthrough science. It needs breakthrough generosity,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Advance Market Commitment for COVID-19 Vaccines (Coax AMC), a new innovative financing instrument, was also launched. The program is intended to provide access to the COVID-19 vaccine in lower- and middle-income countries.

In the summit, AstraZeneca has pledged 300 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, which is developing in collaboration with the University of Oxford.

MSD, GSK, Innovax, Serum Institute of India (SII), and Walvax made a commitment to increase the production of the HPV vaccine.

The Serum Institute of India (SII) announced that it would provide 10 million doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) at the cost of US$ 2.00 a dose, 1.5% the list price in developed nations.

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