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Coronavirus pandemic

WHO calls on states to determine financial aid for COVID-19 vaccine development by May 4

Acceleration of the development of the coronavirus vaccine at the cost of its reliability and safety is unacceptable, says World Health Organization Representative to Russia Melita Vujnovic

© AP Photo/Jessica Hill

MOSCOW, April 30. /TASS/. The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on its member states to determine the volume of financial aid for the development of COVID-19 vaccines by May 4, WHO Representative to Russia Melita Vujnovic said in an interview with TASS.

"The WHO has gathered many agencies: the Global Fund and many others. Under their auspices and with their support, we are calling on the countries to determine the volume of financial aid for the development of vaccines. The money will go towards the vaccine and to ensuring its accessibility in poor countries," she said.

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UN, WHO, G20 launch $7.5 billion program to fight infections — top diplomat

Vujnovic added that when three-four vaccines are developed, it is important to launch mass production. "We need a serious and stable financial foundation for that in order to reach the most vulnerable groups of the population that need vaccination the most. Then we might stop the pandemic," she noted.

Earlier, first deputy head of the United Russia parliamentary faction Adalbi Shkhagoshev said after an online session with Vujnovic that on May 4, the WHO would hold a major session with its financial contributors and vaccine developers.

Acceleration of vaccine development

Read also

Acceleration of the development of the coronavirus vaccine at the cost of its reliability and safety is unacceptable, says World Health Organization Representative to Russia Melita Vujnovic.

"Currently, all [vaccine] developers have entered clinical or pre-clinical testing stage. It is very difficult to speak about the result now, we must wait a bit more," she said. "In every case when medication’s development time could have been shortened, it has been done already; however, development time must not be shortened at the expense of the [vaccine’s] reliability and safety. These are the two criteria that we cannot save time on."

Earlier, Vujnovic told TASS that the development of the coronavirus vaccine would take months.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 3,200,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 228,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 1,000,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 106,498 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 11,619 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 1,073 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

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