Switzerland announced Wednesday that it will donate some 270 million euros to the ACT-Accelerator platform set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) to give developing countries access to covid-19 vaccines, drugs and diagnostic tests.
This funding also aims to strengthen local health systems, hard hit by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
“Switzerland has a strong interest in seeing a rapid and lasting end to the pandemic, but this will not happen unless its spread is controlled and its impact reduced worldwide,” the Swiss government said in a statement.
It said the emergence of more contagious variants of SARS-CoV-2 puts international efforts to contain the pandemic to the test.
Switzerland had already made a 67 million euro contribution to the ACT-Accelerator last year.
“Combating the virus is a major challenge for developing countries. Although considerable progress has been made in the design of tests, treatments and vaccines, access to these is not guaranteed fairly and on a large scale,” the Swiss authorities explained.
According to the Swiss authorities’ instructions, of the 270 million euros committed for 2021, one-third will go to the GAVi vaccine alliance.
The rest will be used to promote research and ensure access to diagnostics and drugs, as well as help Ministries of Health in poor countries improve the logistics and distribution of covid-19 supplies and vaccines so that people in crisis or remote areas can also protect themselves from the disease.
