Rome — Thursday's GAVI vaccine summit aims to help people in the developing world get access to any eventual coronavirus vaccine.
More than 50 countries and organisations pledged to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which immunises children in developing nations $7.4 billion for its work until 2025.
The bigger picture:
Even before COVID-19 hit, access to vaccines was deeply unequal with around 20 million children not receiving vaccines that could save them from serious diseases, death, disability and ill health, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
This was why GAVI was set up as an alliance, backed by the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, UNICEF and others, to provide vaccines to the world's poorest countries.
"The worry we have is that unless we scale up production dramatically right now, and do that at risk, when the vaccines are available, they could be bought up by wealthy countries," GAVI's chief executive officer Seth Berkley said.
