US alone won't fill COVAX funding gap, lead official says
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
MONDAY, MAY 23, 2022
MONDAY, MAY 23, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
US alone won't fill COVAX funding gap, lead official says

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
22 January, 2021, 09:15 pm
Last modified: 22 January, 2021, 09:19 pm

Related News

  • Biden to launch economic plan for Indo-Pacific region
  • The echoes of America’s hypocrisy abroad
  • First stop Samsung: Biden touts South Korean role in securing global supply chains
  • Hyundai Motor Group to invest more than $10 billion in US up to 2025
  • Russia bans entry of US President Joe Biden among 963 Americans

US alone won't fill COVAX funding gap, lead official says

The roll-out of the COVAX scheme, led by the World Health Organization and GAVI vaccine alliance, is due to start next month with 1.8 billion doses due to go to poorer countries in 2021

Reuters
22 January, 2021, 09:15 pm
Last modified: 22 January, 2021, 09:19 pm
FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a small bottle labeled with a "Coronavirus Covid-19 Vaccine" sticker and a medical syringe in front of displayed USA flag in this illustration taken, October 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a small bottle labeled with a "Coronavirus Covid-19 Vaccine" sticker and a medical syringe in front of displayed USA flag in this illustration taken, October 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

US President Joe Biden's decision to join the COVAX vaccine facility could make a "huge difference" to the financing of the scheme, intended to deliver coronavirus vaccines to poor countries, a diplomat with a lead role in COVAX said on Friday.

But Dag Inge Ulstein, Norway's minister of international development who is co-lead of the COVAX Facilitation Council with South Africa, said other wealthy countries must step up too and urged them to donate more shots.

The roll-out of the COVAX scheme, led by the World Health Organization and GAVI vaccine alliance, is due to start next month with 1.8 billion doses due to go to poorer countries in 2021.

Biden's chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said on Thursday the United States intended to join the facility under the new president.

"It will make a huge difference (to the financing) but it's not only up to the United States," Ulstein told Reuters. "In the end, the most wealthy countries need to step up and fill that gap."

Fauci also said the United States will remain a member of the WHO. Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, had halted funding to the WHO, where the United States is the largest donor, and announced a process to withdraw from the agency in July 2021.

A meeting led by South Africa and Norway's finance ministers to push governments to contribute more to COVAX is planned for Jan. 29, Ulstein said, adding that the money should not come from existing, stretched aid budgets.

WHO officials have appealed for help filling a multi-billion dollar funding gap for Covid tests, drugs and vaccines, which and Ulstein confirmed on Friday was $27 billion for 2021.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

The COVAX Facilitation Council seeks to mobilise additional resources and political support for COVAX including from rich nations in the Group of 20.

Pressure has been mounting for wealthy countries to donate vaccines following growing criticism of emerging inequity, with the WHO chief warning of a "catastrophic moral failure".

Norway this week became one of the first countries to tell the WHO it would donate vaccines such as those it currently has from US drugmaker Pfizer to COVAX in parallel to administering doses at home and urged others to do the same.

"What is at risk is if this circulates longer and we have new mutations it might take away the effect of the vaccines we already rolled out in our own countries," Ulstein said.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was due to be added to the COVAX scheme on Friday but allotment is expected to be relatively small.

Since it is the only vaccine that currently has WHO emergency-use listing, a COVAX requirement, donations of that shot in particular could spur deliveries to poorer countries.

Top News

USA / covid-19 vaccine / COVAX Vaccine Facility

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • BPC hunts for dollar to import fuel oil
    BPC hunts for dollar to import fuel oil
  • Representational Image. Photo: Mumit M/TBS
    Govt to list products to suspend imports amid dollar crisis
  • Infographic: TBS
    With 2 months left, 45% ADP fund still unspent 

MOST VIEWED

  • A person in personal protective equipment (PPE) walks a dog at a resident community, as the second stage of a two-stage lockdown has been launched to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Shanghai, China April 3, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Shanghai reopens some public transport, still on high Covid alert
  • Workers in protective suit spray disinfectant at a community, during the lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Shanghai, China, April 5, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Dynamic zero-Covid approach: China's choice to safeguard lives, underpin growth
  • People wearing protective face masks walk on a street, following new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in Shanghai, China August 25, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Shanghai district to require all shops to shut, residents to stay home
  • Photo: Courtesy
    Covax calls for urgent action to close vaccine equity gap
  • Photo: BSS/AFP
    Covax calls for urgent action to close vaccine equity gap
  • Photo: Collected
    Thousands of Covid-negative Beijing residents sent to quarantine

Related News

  • Biden to launch economic plan for Indo-Pacific region
  • The echoes of America’s hypocrisy abroad
  • First stop Samsung: Biden touts South Korean role in securing global supply chains
  • Hyundai Motor Group to invest more than $10 billion in US up to 2025
  • Russia bans entry of US President Joe Biden among 963 Americans

Features

Why everybody wants to be like TikTok

Why everybody wants to be like TikTok

14h | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

How the ban on porn sites spawned a local cybersex industry

17h | Panorama
3 best affordable sunscreens for all

3 best affordable sunscreens for all

17h | Mode
Warah uses three types of khadi material: a sheer and light one, a medium count and a thicker one.

Warah: Embroidered with culture and womanhood

19h | Mode

More Videos from TBS

Investors, public to suffer from electricity price hike

Investors, public to suffer from electricity price hike

7h | Videos
Health benefits of summer fruits

Health benefits of summer fruits

8h | Videos
The way Bangladesh saves almost extinct fish

The way Bangladesh saves almost extinct fish

8h | Videos
Padma’s Char now largest grazing-ground

Padma’s Char now largest grazing-ground

8h | Videos

Most Read

1
Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge
Bangladesh

Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge

2
A packet of US five-dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
Banking

Dollar hits Tk100 mark in open market

3
PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire
Crime

PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire

4
Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi
Bangladesh

Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi

5
BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies
Stocks

BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies

6
The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter
Industry

The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab