Pledges to an excess of $8 billion have been made by leaders globally towards the development of Covid-19 vaccine. This fund will also be used for treatment and diagnosis of the virus.
The European Union (EU) hosted an online summit where donors and countries made these pledges.
President Ursula von der Leyen of the EU noted that these resources will help in starting a worldwide cooperation on ending Covid-19.
This is a sign of global solidarity, unity and humanity. However EU was quick to add that more resources will be needed in future.
A total of 30 countries, donors and the United Nations made their donations. Madonna, pop singer, was one of the donors who pledged $1.1 million according to the EU President Ms von der Leyen.
Norway and European Commission each pledged $1 billion to the Covid-19 vaccine fund. France pledged Euros 500 million while Japan pledged $800 million.
It is important to note the Russia and the United States did not participate in the Summit.
The Chinese Ambassador to the EU represented China in the online Summit.
Out of the total funds raised ($8 billion), $4.4 billion will be spent on development of Covid-19 vaccine, $2 billion will be used on searching for effective treatment while $1.6 billion will be spent on production of tests according to information provided by the EU.
Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, noted that the “more we pull together” in terms of resources and expertise, “the faster our scientists will succeed” in coming up with a vaccine.
The United Kingdom pledged £388 million towards Vaccine research, treatment and testing.
This online summit which happened on 4th May was co-hosted by the UK, European Commission, Canada, Germany, Italy, Norway, France, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Japan.
During the online summit the United Nations stated that we can only return to normalcy if a vaccine is developed. Currently, there are dozens of projects around the globe working on a vaccine.
Experts are predicting that vaccine development can take up to mid-2021. This will be up to 18 months since the virus emerged on the face of the earth in Wuhan, China.
