World leaders pledge €7.4bn to research Covid-19 vaccine

Boris Johnson was introduced to the summit by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European commission, as “a man who has been though every possible emotion in the past month”. The UK prime minister insisted the search for a vaccine was not a competition between countries, but instead required cooperation that “defies the usual ways of operating”.

He said: “We’ll need a truly global effort – because no one country, and no one pharmaceutical company, will be able to do this alone. The race to discover the vaccine to defeat this virus is not a competition between countries, but the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes. It’s humanity against the virus.”

Many leaders used their brief speeches to assert their support for the existing multilateral architecture for global health, including the World Health Organization. The US last month suspended funding for the WHO, criticising its relationship with China.

Erna Solberg, the Norwegian prime minister and summit co-host, said “we support the leadership of the World Health Organization”, adding that without the UN body “an effective and coordinated response to the pandemic would not be possible”.

She said that “multilateral cooperation is more important than ever” and the meeting was the start of a global movement “never seen before”.

At the parallel “non-aligned movement” summit, Rouhani attacked the US decision to pull out of the WHO, describing it as “a strategic blunder”.

The WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom, in his address to the EU-convened event , pointed out how quickly the genetic sequence of the virus had been shared by China amongst scientists globally.

The EU said near the close of the summit that a total of 7.36bn of the €7.5bn sought had been pledged, with the largest national pledges coming from Japan and Norway. France, Italy and Germany all pledged around €500m each. Turkey’s contribution will be announced later in the month.

The precise value of individual countries pledges announced during the two-hour event was hard to calculate since some leaders drew on previous pledges, or earmarked their national contribution for specific bodies like the Red Cross, the WHO or Gavi. Von der Leyen said the summit had revealed “fantastic momentum” and that it was possible to turn the tide against the virus.

From the €7.5bn initially sought, €4bn is for the development of a vaccine, €2bn for treatments and €1.5bn for the manufacture of tests, according to the European commission.

The precise methodology of the new fund, including how to select a vaccine for funding and the strings to be attached, was not made clear during the many rhetorical speeches. But the world leaders want to work with existing global health bodies such as Gavi as much as possible.

The driving idea behind the summit, pushed by the Gates Foundation, is that an alliance is needed not just to coordinate research for a vaccine, but also for therapies and testing.

Jeremy Farrar, the Wellcome Trust director, said: “I would have loved China and the US to be part of the fundraising summit … both countries had incredibly deep medical knowledge innovation and expertise and a strong manufacturing base.”

He added: “My guess is that those countries that have not yet signed up will sign up in the course of May to make sure this is a truly global event. We need everyone.”

David Salisbury from the thinktank Chatham House noted, however: “We have to admit there is a tension between countries that want to protect their populations and the desire to spread the vaccine equitably. It will not be a vote winner to offer a share in available vaccine to less-privileged countries.

“The factories for the biggest vaccine manufacturers are in Europe, the US and India. Will European manufacturers be obliged by the EU to restrict sales first to European countries?”

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Source:theguardian

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