Geneva: Experts behind a global push to develop and roll out a vaccine and a treatment for COVID-19 acknowledge that their ambitions require a big budget, but insist that not investing now will cause far greater expenses to battle the fallout later on.
The World Health Organization and its allies made a pitch on Friday for their ACT-Accelerator that aims to get a COVID-19 vaccine and treatment tools to the neediest people around the world, no matter the cost.
They were speaking a day before a European Union conference hoping to drum up new support and funds for the initiative that the United States, in particular, has shunned.
Ultimately, WHO and partners say the project needs more than 31 billion US dollars through the end of 2021, for vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to fight the coronavirus which has caused more than 9.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 disease and killed more than 490,000 people worldwide - while stifling economies and shutting down entire countries.
Read | Virus is 'still circulating: WHO
"The value proposition is clear: a faster end to the pandemic. If we don't rally now, the human costs and the economic pain will our deepen," said Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, one of the WHO chief's special envoys for the initiative.
"So though these numbers sound big, they're not when we think of the alternatives."
(AP)
