At an online summit of the GAVI allianceExternal link on Wednesday, attended by Swiss President Guy Parmelin, a total of CHF2.16 billion and 54 million additional vaccine shots were pledged by dozens of countries to the COVAX vaccine-sharing pool.
The COVAX mechanism, which has distributed 77 million doses to 127 countries, aims to accelerate access to 1.8 billion vaccine doses, covering nearly 30% of poorer nations’ populations.
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In the vaccine race, can COVAX help poorer countries catch up?
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COVAX expects to start rolling out Covid-19 vaccines to poorer countries at the end of February. Can it really help them catch up?
More than a third of the Swiss contribution will be concretely used to improve global access to vaccines, said Parmelin, who joined the calls for harmonised efforts to contain the spread of the virus.
The Swiss parliament is due to sign off on the contribution during the current June session.
However, in his statement to summit participants on Wednesday, Parmelin did not mention government plans to further donate some three million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as reported by the Swiss news agency, Keystone-SDA.
Switzerland had purchased the doses from the Swedish-British company last year but drugs regulator, Swissmedic, has yet to approve the vaccine.
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Why Swiss participation in WHO’s Covid-19 vaccine plan matters
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As the second coronavirus wave makes finding vaccines even more urgent, we look at Swiss participation in the WHO’s vaccine pool.
Swiss-EU treaties: signatures handed in for Kompass initiative
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The committee behind the Compass Initiative submitted the signatures it had collected to the Federal Chancellery on Friday.
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Esther Grether has died aged 89. Considered one of Switzerland’s leading entrepreneurs, the owner of the Basel-based Doetsch Grether Group was also a major shareholder in the Swatch Group and an art collector.
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The flag of the Swiss Wrestling Federation has been received at the start of the Swiss Wrestling and Alpine Festival in Mollis, canton Glarus.
Figurine heads in Zurich school not considered discriminatory
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The 16 carved figurine heads in the auditorium of the Hirschengraben school building in Zurich are not discriminatory, according to an independent expert report.
Swiss political parties report income of CHF22.4 million for 2024
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Ten parties reported income totalling CHF22.4 million for 2024, less than in the 2023 election year. The reports are based on the regulations for transparency in political financing.
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