The group has three big targets, Dr. Aylward said: two billion doses of vaccines at least by the end of 2021, 500 million new rapid diagnostics for low and middle income countries, and 250 million therapeutic tests.

“The accelerator is all about an integrated end-to-end solution to the pandemic”, Dr. Aylward told a regular UN briefing of journalists in Geneva.

Raising $28 billion was a real challenge in the current fiscal environment, but it made sense to tackle the problem head on, Dr. Aylward said.

“Frankly, if we don't do this in a coordinated way, it is going to cost more, be slower and this (pandemic) is just going to drag out longer”, he said. “Right now, financing is what stands between us and getting out of this pandemic as rapidly as possible. It’s as simple as that.”

The article's full-text is available here.

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