WHO asks for $7.7B in funding to stop Delta variant; end pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) is asking for $7.7 billion in funding for the Rapid ACT-Accelerator Delta Response (RADAR) to help stop the Delta variant and bring about an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funding would allow for increased testing and better surveillance to detect and protect against new variants while providing more treatment for the seriously ill. The funding would also provide personal protective equipment for health workers, delivery and deployment of COVID-19 tools, and continued research and development to ensure those tools remain effective, the organization said.

“US$7.7 billion is needed urgently to fund the ACT-Accelerator’s work to address the Delta surge and put the world on track to ending the pandemic,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said. “This investment is a tiny portion of the amount governments are spending to deal with COVID-19 and makes ethical, economic, and epidemiological sense. If these funds aren’t made available now to stop the transmission of Delta in the most vulnerable countries, we will undoubtedly all pay the consequences later in the year.”

The WHO said the money is not additional funding but part of the ACT-Accelerator’s overall 2021 budget. The ACT-Accelerator partnership was formed at the onset of the pandemic as a result of calls from G20 leaders and was launched in April 2020. Between its launch and August 9, ACT-Accelerator had received $17.8 billion of the $38.1 billion needed to operate.

The requested funds include $2.4 billion for a 10-fold increase in testing in low- and lower-middle-income countries, as well as ensuring all countries are testing at satisfactory levels; $1 billion for ongoing research and development; $1.2 billion to address oxygen needs; and $1.4 billion to help countries identify and address key bottlenecks to effective deployment and use of COVID-19 tools.

The WHO also asked for an additional $3.8 billion to reserve a supply of 760 million doses of the vaccine to be available mid-2022.

“Ending the pandemic will generate trillions of dollars in economic return due to increased global economic output and reduced need for government stimulus plans to deal with the health and financial crisis that COVID-19 causes,” Carl Bildt, WHO Special Envoy to the ACT-Accelerator, said. “The window for action is now.”