WASHINGTON - The World Bank Group will have committed $2 billion in financing by the end of April for vaccine purchases, development and manufacturing and is working with more than 40 countries on this effort, World Bank Managing Director of Operations Axel van Trotsenburg said on Friday.
World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the same World Bank forum called for political will to boost production of COVID-19 vaccines and share supplies.
He said that failure to agree on a proposal to waive intellectual property under the rules of the World Trade Organization (WHO) was the "elephant in the room".
(Reporting by David Lawder in Washington and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva)