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Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) plan to provide 3.5 billion CoV vaccine doses to poor countries. They pledged that amount for 2021 and 2022 at the World Health Summit in Rome yesterday.
U.S. company Pfizer, working with German company Biontech, plans to supply two billion doses of its vaccine to countries, Moderna up to 995 million and J&J up to 500 million.
In the run-up to the summit, the EU Commission had contacted the manufacturers, with whom the EU had good experience, about this, according to Commission sources. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had already promised the donation of 100 million vaccine doses.
EU: Vaccine production in Africa
With an eye on coming health crises, the EU also wants to finance the construction of vaccine production sites in Africa with one billion euros. “Africa imports 99 percent of its vaccines today, and that has to change,” von der Leyen said.
According to her, these “hubs” will be established across the continent. There is no information yet on the exact locations.
The IMF is presenting a plan in Rome with a financial volume of $50 billion (41 billion euros). The goal is to vaccinate at least 40 percent of the world’s population against the coronavirus by the end of the year, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said. At least 60 percent of the world’s population should then be vaccinated by the end of 2022.
“Rome Declaration.”
Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi, opening the digital meeting of 20 major industrialized and emerging economies (G-20), said the pandemic showed the importance of international cooperation. Participants, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, plan to share experiences from the fight against the Covid 19 pandemic.
The meeting will conclude with a “Rome Declaration,” a paper outlining principles to prevent future health crises. In this way, the G-20 countries want to better prepare themselves for comparable crises. Italy currently holds the presidency within the G-20.
— source: orf.at/picture:
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