The European Union will spare no effort to help the world come together against coronavirus, said Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, at the joint press conference with a number of world leaders, which the World Health Organization hosted on 24 April.

She announced the EU was joining forces with global partners to kick-start a pledging effort – the Coronavirus Global Response – on 4 May 2020. “The aim is to raise EUR 7.5 billion to ramp up work on prevention, diagnostics and treatment. This is a first step only, but more will be needed in the future. Because beating coronavirus will require sustained actions on many fronts,” she said.

The Coronavirus Global Response has two main aims. Firstly, to rally global support and attract financial contributions to bridge the funding gap, and secondly, to secure a high-level political commitment to ensuring equitable access to therapeutics and vaccines, leaving no-one behind, the European Commission said in a press release.

“We need to develop a vaccine. We need to produce it and to deploy it to every single corner of the world. And make it available at affordable prices”, von der Leyen stressed, adding that this vaccine would be ‘our universal, common good'.

She invited everyone – governments, business leaders, philanthropists, artists and citizens – to raise awareness about the pledging effort, and help create a united front against coronavirus. “United we will make history with a global response to the global pandemic”, von der Leyen concluded.