Geneva, November 23 Recently, new progress has been made in clinical trials of many coronavirus candidate vaccines worldwide. WHO Director-General Tedros Tedros said at a press conference on the 23rd that there is “real hope now” to end the epidemic by combining vaccines and other tested and effective public health measures.
At the press conference, Tedros said that the scientific achievements in the research and development of the global coronavirus vaccine are “unable to emphasize enough”. The speed of its research and development is unprecedented in the history of vaccines, and the whole scientific community has created a new standard for vaccine research and development.
He also pointed out that the international community must now set a new standard for vaccine access, because “the urgency of developing vaccines must be matched with the urgency of equitable distribution of vaccines.” In order to avoid the poorest and most vulnerable countries from losing the competition for a vaccine for COVID-19, WHO launched an international cooperation initiative called “Access to the Tool Accelerator to Combat COVID-19” as early as April to accelerate research and development, production and equitable access to products such as diagnostics, treatments and vaccines for COVID-19.
Tedros also said that to achieve the goals of this accelerator international cooperation initiative, about $4.3 billion is currently needed to support the large-scale procurement and delivery of coronavirus vaccines, testing equipment and treatments, and $23.8 billion next year. He said that this is not charity, but the fastest and wisest way to end the global epidemic and promote economic recovery.
Tedros said that the WHO-led COVAX Global Coronavirus Vaccine Program has now joined 187 countries, and in the future, in the procurement and promotion cooperation of vaccines, all countries will obtain the COVID-19 vaccine at the best price, quantity and time.
