Geneva (VNA) - Vietnam hailed the World Health Organisation (WHO)’sinitiative to set up the Facilitation Council of the Access to COVID-19 ToolsAccelerator (ACT-A) as it will help step up the development and equitabledistribution of vaccines and technologies in response to the COVID-19 outbreak,said Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai, head of the Permanent Mission of Vietnam tothe UN, WTO and other international organisations in Geneva.

At the first meeting of the council on September 10, Mai thanked the WHO andthe European Mission for inviting Vietnam to attend the event as the ASEANChair in 2020.

She went on by highlighting ASEAN and Vietnam’s recent efforts in response tothe coronavirus outbreak, and affirming the member states’ commitments toenhancing solidarity and international cooperation to fight the pandemic, particularlyactivities of the Facilitation Council of the ATC-A so as to promote equitable accessto vaccines and tools responding to the pandemic as well as post-pandemic recovery.

The council was established on September 10 with 34members, comprising several international organisations, representative countrieslike Vietnam as the ASEAN Chair and Singapore as representative for the smallstates forum, and nine initial sponsors - the UK, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Germany,Italy, Norway, Japan, France and Spain, and eight countries forming markets forCOVID-19 tools, including India, Brazil, the Republic of Korea, the US,Indonesia, South Africa, Russia, and China.

Planning to operate in 18 months, the council will workto promote international collaboration, mobilise support and necessary resourcesto accelerate the development, scale-up and equitable distribution of COVID-19vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for all health systems.

Its first meeting was held on the same day to adjustACT-A’s plan as a global solution to end the COVID-19 crisis, and recover globalmedical system and growth.

Launched at theend of April 2020, the ACT-A brings together governments, scientists,businesses, civil societies, and philanthropists and global health organisations(the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CEPI, FIND, Gavi, The Global Fund,Unitaid, Wellcome, the WHO, the World Bank and Global Financing Facility).

ACT-A's goal is to protect health systems and restore societies andeconomies by accelerating development, equitable allocation and scaled updelivery of 2 billion doses of vaccines by the end of 2021, 245 million coursesof therapeutics by mid-2021, and 500 million tests for mid-income countries bymid-2021, besides providing personal protective gears and ventilators forcountries in need.

Some 38 billion USD is needed for the ACT-A; however, only 2.7billion USD has been mobilised so far. Currently, Canada and France are thelargest sponsors or the programme./.