US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday called for other countries to inject $ 2 billion more into a UN-backed program to send coronavirus vaccines to poorer countries – at a time when rich nations have acquired the vast majority of doses.
The United States is the co-organizer of an online conference that brought together presidents, prime ministers and other dignitaries to help raise the $ 6.3 billion that has already been raised for the program known as COVAX.
The program has begun donating millions of vaccines to 92 low- and middle-income countries in recent months. But the World Health Organization – insisting that no one is safe from the pandemic until everyone is – has repeatedly lamented the lack of equity in launching vaccines, with wealthy countries like the United States acquiring the majority of the dose.
Donors were contributing funds – Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said Sweden was increasing its contribution from $ 20 million to $ 280 million, for example – or announcing plans to share doses with recipient countries.
Blinken, in recorded remarks, expressed ambition to raise COVAX’s goal of vaccinating 20% of the population in affected countries, while praising the contributions and promises made thus far.
“To defeat this pandemic we need to aspire to much more. With $ 2 billion more for COVAX, we can reach approximately 30% of the populations in the countries, instead of 20%, ”he said for the event co-sponsored by Gavi, the Geneva-based Vaccine Alliance and co-administered by COVAX.
“That is not all we have to do. We need to produce safer, more effective vaccines, and we need to distribute them more quickly,” Blinken said.