EU Commission launches new global fundraising campaign to finance development and distribution of vaccines against Covid-19

The European Commission launched a new global fundraising campaign on Thursday to finance the development and worldwide distribution of testing, vaccines and treatments against COVID-19, seeking to address concerns they may not be equally shared.

The new initiative, named “Global Goal: Unite For Our Future”, is meant to raise tens of billions of dollars with private and public donations.

It follows another EU-led global campaign for the same goal which in less than a month has raised nearly $11 billion, more than half of it from EU nations and institutions.

The EU is increasingly taking a role as a champion of global cooperation while the United States and China, which have the world’s largest economies, favour national initiatives.

Of the nearly $11 billion donated so far by governments, only $50 million came from China, while the U.S. shunned the initiative altogether, EU officials said.

“No one is safe until we are all safe,” EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said, launching the new initiative, which will end with a pledging summit on June 27.

Via Reuters