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So far, it has attracted just $ 3.6 billion in funding for research, manufacturing and grants for poor countries. Three companies have pledged to deliver vaccines, but it is not yet clear whether they will be effective. And it can be difficult to get the billions of doses needed in an affordable and timely manner because the United States and other wealthy countries have made separate deals for their citizens.
In recent months, Mr. Gates, who points out that he is one of many participants in the vaccination effort, has held online roundtables with drug company officials.. He continued financial commitments from world leaders: in just one week, he and his wife and co-chair, Melinda Gates, met with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Prince heir Mohammed bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi.
In Washington, he frequently consulted with Dr.Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist and longtime collaborator on immunization initiatives, and spoke with Senator Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor who supports the programs. to eradicate this and other plagues. And to help manage the vaccination effort, his foundation has provided consultants at McKinsey & Company with millions of dollars.
“Some will say, ‘Why should it be him? “Said Dr Ariel Pablos-Méndez, former director of knowledge management at WHO.” He has the power to star. He has the resources. He cares. There are a lot of actors doing things, but not at the Gates scale. “
If the initiative, aided by the fortune and attention of Mr Gates, succeeds in helping protect the world’s poor from a virus that has already killed more than 1.3 million people, it will confirm the strategies it promoted in his philanthropic work, including drug inducements. companies.
If the effort fails, however, it could escalate calls for a more radical approach.
Amid the pandemic, some officials and public health advocates say vaccine makers, many of whom have benefited from unprecedented public funding, should be forced to share their technology, data and know-how to maximize the production. India and South Africa, for example, are pushing to suspend global enforcement of intellectual property rights involving the virus.
South African Minister of Health Dr Zweli Lawrence Mkhize said normal practices did not apply to this crisis. “There has to be a larger degree of consultation that examines what is best for humanity,” he said in an interview.
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