UNION OF NATIONS On Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres joined world leaders in urging immediate funding to halt the COVID-19 pandemic this year. The pandemic could be ended this year, but only if "all people have access to immunizations, testing, and treatments," according to the UN chief.

Some world leaders, including the UN's top official, have called for USD 23 billion to assist the ACT-Accelerator, a groundbreaking collaboration that makes these commodities available to everyone throughout the world.

"Vaccine disparity is our time's greatest moral failure - and people are paying the price," Guterres added, emphasising the need to act quickly."Until and unless we can assure that people have access to these technologies, the pandemic will persist, and people's sense of insecurity will only grow."

The ACT-Accelerator was founded in April 2020, just weeks after the pandemic was proclaimed, to accelerate the development and availability of COVID-19 testing, treatments, and vaccines. COVAX, a global vaccination solidarity programme, is one of the organization's four pillars.

Governments, scientists, philanthropists, corporations, civil society, and global health organisations such as GAVI, the vaccination alliance; CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; and the World Health Organization, the UN's health agency, are all members of the partnership (WHO).

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