COVID-19 vaccine must be affordable, effective & universally available, says UN Chief

The under-trial vaccine for Coronavirus must be considered a global public good and made affordable with universal availability, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday (local time). His statement comes in the backdrop of clinical trials of a potential COVID-19 vaccine on humans, which has begun in several countries including the US and Britain.

His remarks were made at the launch of the global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to new COVID-19 tools.

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Global collaboration to fight COVID-19

"A world free of COVID-19 requires the biggest public health effort in global history: Data must be shared, resources mobilised and politics set aside. We are in the fight of our lives. We are in it together. And we will come out of it stronger, together," Guterres said.

He further said, "This launch brings together world leaders, the private sector, scientific and humanitarian actors and other partners to promote health, keep the world safe and advance the public good."

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This new collaboration was co-hosted by World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Xinhua reported.

Meanwhile, the novel coronavirus has infected more than 2.7 million people and killed at least 1,94,000 worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. 

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(with ANI inputs)