A call to global business to donate $8bn for the scientific fight against coronavirus was given the Wellcome Trust which said that the best way for the world to find an “exit strategy” the lockdowns, imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 - the name of the disease caused by the coronavirus, that have shaken global economies was through a scientific solution for the disease.
A campaign, called “Covid-zero”, aimed at trying to convince the global corporate that funding the efforts for development of a vaccine, treatments and testing for coronavirus is in their best intention, was launched on Tuesday by the global medical research foundation,
The Trust aims to convince the chief executives of large multinationals to invest in the cause by the end of April and is working closely with the World Economic Forum, industry networks and philanthropic partners for this purpose.
An appeal by the Welcome Trust will be made to the attendees of the weekly Covid-19 call organized by the WEF which is expected to be attended, through virtual means, by about 500 business leaders.
Payments company Mastercard and the singer Madonna are among those to have already invested in the Covid-19 therapeutics accelerator, launched with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Corporate and chief executives needed to fund solutions to the problem, rather than just dealing with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome.
“Businesses and governments are rightly concerned with tackling immediate concerns — how to support staff, keep trading and bolster economies,” he said. “But we also need a way out of this pandemic as fast as possible,” he added.
It was a matter of concern for the Trust that the primary focus of governments, companies and even other philanthropic organizations was only on trying to aid in the efforts of preventing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and in repairing the hard hit economies and are thus completely neglecting the need for finding out a long term scientific solution to the problem.
In a report published before the Covid-19 outbreak, a funding shortfall of $8bn in fighting a pandemic was identified by the global preparedness monitoring board which is an independent organisation convened by the World Health Organization and the World Bank.
One of the major use of the $8bn identified was meant for the funding organisations responding to such pandemic crisis which included the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, an alliance formed in 2017 at the World Economic Forum that has been distributing funding to biotech companies developing vaccines.
The spread of Covid-19 was a “global humanitarian and economic crisis”, said Richard Hatchett, chief executive of CEPI.
“While a range of social distancing measures have been implemented in countries and regions across the world, the development of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics is the most effective way to permanently halt the global spread of the disease,” he said.
(Source:www.ft.com)
A campaign, called “Covid-zero”, aimed at trying to convince the global corporate that funding the efforts for development of a vaccine, treatments and testing for coronavirus is in their best intention, was launched on Tuesday by the global medical research foundation,
The Trust aims to convince the chief executives of large multinationals to invest in the cause by the end of April and is working closely with the World Economic Forum, industry networks and philanthropic partners for this purpose.
An appeal by the Welcome Trust will be made to the attendees of the weekly Covid-19 call organized by the WEF which is expected to be attended, through virtual means, by about 500 business leaders.
Payments company Mastercard and the singer Madonna are among those to have already invested in the Covid-19 therapeutics accelerator, launched with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Corporate and chief executives needed to fund solutions to the problem, rather than just dealing with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome.
“Businesses and governments are rightly concerned with tackling immediate concerns — how to support staff, keep trading and bolster economies,” he said. “But we also need a way out of this pandemic as fast as possible,” he added.
It was a matter of concern for the Trust that the primary focus of governments, companies and even other philanthropic organizations was only on trying to aid in the efforts of preventing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and in repairing the hard hit economies and are thus completely neglecting the need for finding out a long term scientific solution to the problem.
In a report published before the Covid-19 outbreak, a funding shortfall of $8bn in fighting a pandemic was identified by the global preparedness monitoring board which is an independent organisation convened by the World Health Organization and the World Bank.
One of the major use of the $8bn identified was meant for the funding organisations responding to such pandemic crisis which included the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, an alliance formed in 2017 at the World Economic Forum that has been distributing funding to biotech companies developing vaccines.
The spread of Covid-19 was a “global humanitarian and economic crisis”, said Richard Hatchett, chief executive of CEPI.
“While a range of social distancing measures have been implemented in countries and regions across the world, the development of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics is the most effective way to permanently halt the global spread of the disease,” he said.
(Source:www.ft.com)
