€7.4 billion raised for universal access to vaccines, and pledging continues

07.05.2020

The European Commission registered €7.4 billion in pledges from donors worldwide during the Coronavirus Global Response pledging event on 4 May 2020. This includes a pledge of €1.4 billion by the Commission. This almost reaches the initial target of €7.5 billion and is a solid starting point for the worldwide pledging marathon, which began on 4 May and will continue until end of May. The aim is to gather significant funding to ensure the collaborative development and universal deployment of diagnostics, treatments and vaccines against coronavirus.

Summing up the results of the Coronavirus Global Response international pledging event on 4 May, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said: “Today the world showed extraordinary unity for the common good. Governments and global health organisations joined forces against coronavirus. With such commitment, we are on track for developing, producing and deploying a vaccine for all. However, this is only the beginning. We need to sustain the effort and to stand ready to contribute more. The pledging marathon will continue. After governments, civil society and people worldwide need to join in, in a global mobilisation of hope and resolve.”

The pledging event was co-convened by the European Union, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom. The initiative is a response to the call from the World Health Organization (WHO) and a group of health actors for a global collaboration for the accelerated development, production and equitable global access to new coronavirus essential health technologies.

The pledging event focused on the three most pressing needs:

Test: Responding to the need for new tests to rapidly diagnose the disease;
Treat: Responding to the need for new treatments to minimise symptoms in coronavirus patients, and reduce hospitalisations;
Prevent: Responding to the need for new vaccines to protect people, to prevent the disease from returning and resume normal life.

Next steps

The global response must also include civil society, and the global community of citizens. For that reason, the European Commission is joining forces with NGOs such as Global Citizen and other partners.

The Global Vaccines Summit that Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, will organise on 4 June will mobilise additional funding to protect the next generation with vaccines. As the world relies on Gavi's work for making vaccination available everywhere, the success of Gavi's replenishment will be crucial to the success of the Coronavirus Global Response.