The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will back the world’s largest vaccine maker to produce 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccinations for distribution in poorer nations.
The Wall Street Journal reported the price will be less than $3 for a dose of the vaccine.
The foundation is backing the Serum Institute of India to speed up the manufacturing of a vaccine for developing nations once any are proven to be effective, according to the newspaper. It will work with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to back SII.
SII has already been selected by AstraZeneca PLC to make a vaccine being developed at the University of Oxford, the Journal said. And SII has an agreement to manufacture another vaccine being developed by Novavax Inc.
“Researchers are making good progress on developing safe and effective vaccines for COVID-19,” said Bill Gates in a statement. “But making sure everyone has access to them, as soon as possible will require tremendous manufacturing capacity and a global distribution network.”
Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft, recently said it is important for young students to return to school for in-person learning, despite the pandemic.
“I’m a big believer that for young children, the benefits in almost every location — particularly if you can protect the teachers well — the benefits outweigh the costs,” the billionaire philanthropist said.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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