Gates Foundation pledges another $70 million to ensure equal access to COVID-19 vaccine

The Gates Foundation, on November 11, added another $70 million to their fund which aims to support the development and distribution of vaccines and treatments against the COVID-19. The latest donation by the Bill and Melinda Gates led charity, has now taken the fund’s total to $156 million. In a statement later, the foundation said that it hopes that its action would prompt other big players to pledge more money for the cause.

Fund distribution 

As per a statement, the additional $50 million would go to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) led by the GAVI vaccine alliance. While another $20 million would be credited to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) which was currently co-funding development of several COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

“COVID-19 anywhere is COVID-19 everywhere. That is why we have to ensure that everyone gets equal access to tests, drugs, and vaccines when they are available—no matter where you live in the world. Our pledge today, alongside the generous commitments made by France, the European Commission, and Spain, means we are getting closer to having the resources needed to help the world fight this virus. But we still have a long way to go," said Melinda Gates making the announcement. 

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Meanwhile, Mark Suzman, the CEO of the foundation has asserted that a very large portion of COVID-19 vaccines were likely to be manufactured in India through the country's strong and robust private sector partners. In an interview to PTI, Suzman noted that India was doing everything it could right now with the resources at hand to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I think India is doing everything it can right now with the resources at hand, but we are all hopeful that next year as some of these vaccines should come out...and our expectation is that a very large portion of these are likely to be manufactured in India through the strong and robust Indian private sector partners and then that will be the key area to focus on in the next phase of the COVID pandemic,” he was quoted as saying by PTI. 

Read: Bill Gates Touts Monoclonal Antibodies Treatment As Effective Cure To COVID-19

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