Tango-Tiger

A global health summit that underlined the growing disparity between rich and poor countries during the pandemic closed Friday with pledges by pharmaceutical companies to deliver more than 1.3 billion doses สล็อตxo of COVID-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries this year.

Italian Premier Mario Draghi, host of the Rome summit that brought together the Group of 20 and the European Union's executive arm, called the contributions by private companies "significant and staggering."

The pledges made include 1 billion doses from American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German company BioNTech's, 200 million from Johnson & Johnson and 100 million from Moderna. They will be provided at cost for low-income countries and at a low profit for middle-income countries.

Pfizer and BioNTech pledged an additional 1 billion for next year, while European Union nations promised another 100 million doses for this year.

Many of the European deliveries will take place place through the U.N.-backed COVAX program, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who co-hosted the summit. COVAX aims to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 shots for low-and middle-income countries.

Earlier this week, the program suffered a major setback when its biggest supplier, the Serum Institute of India, announced it would likely not export any more vaccines until the end of the year due to COVID-19 crisis on the subcontinent.