Ottawa gives $300M to globally fight COVID-19

Three anti-poverty groups urge prime minister to increase amount to $1.5B

OTTAWA— Canada contributed $300 million on Saturday towards the international fight against COVID-19, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined fellow leaders, activists and philanthropists in calling for a vaccine to be distributed to the world’s neediest people.

Trudeau announced the new funds in another virtual international fundraiser — this one sponsored by an organization, Global Citizen, that raised almost $9.5 billion in pledges.

“COVID-19 has changed the lives of people everywhere, and it has highlighted inequalities around the world,” Trudeau said. “None of us have been spared from the effects of COVID-19 and none of us can beat it alone.”

Canada’s contribution includes $180 million to address the immediate humanitarian and development impacts of the pandemic and $120 million toward a new initiative called the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.

The ACT Accelerator was created in April by the World Health Organization, the French government, the European Commission and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to ensure equitable access to medical treatments. It supports organizations, health professionals and businesses in their efforts to develop a vaccine, as well as drug therapies and diagnostic tools to battle the pandemic.

Trudeau said the pandemic has hit vulnerable populations especially hard and the ACT Accelerator will ensure that when a vaccine is found, it will be able to reach all the people who need it.

“We’re also committed to working with countries around the world on how we can pool procurement efforts to make sure all countries have access to the vaccine,” said Trudeau.

Sir Andrew Witty, the former chief executive of the British pharmaceutical giant Glaxo

SmithKline, said a vaccine would normally take 10 to 15 years to develop, but the COVID-19 outbreak is forcing companies and universities to find one or more viable vaccines in one-tenth that time, or quicker.

Witty said the pandemic has forced unprecedented co-operation between “industrial partners, biotech companies, government, universities” to swiftly find new treatments as well as a vaccine.

“No country can be an island in this situation. It’s not great to be the one country who’s safe if all of the people you trade with are still struggling because the trade is not going to be there,” Witty told the conference.

There has been widespread concern that U.S. President Donald Trump might adopt a go-it-alone approach if a vaccine were discovered in the United States first.

However, Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, offered an olive branch to the conference when she announced Washington’s new pledge of almost $750 million.

Julia Anderson, the chief operating officer of the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health, said the ACT Accelerator is the “robust mechanism” the world needs to co-ordinate the fight against the pandemic while supporting the existing health systems of vulnerable countries.

“It’s shaping up to be hopefully the one-stop shop,” Anderson said, adding that the ACT is very much a work in progress.

Her group and two anti-poverty organizations — Results Canada and the One Campaign — say Canada should be devoting one per cent of its overall COVID-19 spending programs to international assistance. They say that would require a boost of at least $1.5 billion to Canada’s foreign-aid budget, which stands at about $5 billion.

“Today’s pledge was significant, but we’re still far from hitting that mark. But this is a marathon not a sprint, so we trust there’s more to come and (we) will keep pushing for Canadian leadership,” said Chris Dendys, the executive director of Results Canada.