LONDON: Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged $15 million to Gavi, the vaccine alliance, at its global virtual pledging conference as AstraZeneca announced it had agreed a licensing deal with the Serum Institute of India to produce one billion doses of Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine (if it works) for lower-income countries.
At the live-streamed summit, held Thursday, $8.8 billion was raised from countries around the world to vaccinate millions of children against infectious diseases such as polio, diptheria and measles in poor countries between 2021 and 2025. The Covid pandemic has disrupted many immunisation programmes, putting hundreds of millions of children at risk.
The US pledged $ 1.16 billion, whilst the UK, which hosted the summit, remained the world’s leadin