Gates, a billionaire who stepped down as chairman of Microsoft Corp in 2014, has through his philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation committed at least $1.75 billion to the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Stressing that the pandemic has been an \"incredible tragedy\", the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist has heightened hopes that the virus could be brought to bay across the world in less than two years

The original ACT-Accelerator investment case published in September 2020 had outlined a total requirement of US$ 38.1 billion to fully fund its work for 2020-21, but so far could mobilise only US$11 billion

Shortly after the first phase of vaccinations commenced, Google had rolled out knowledge panels in Google Search that show up for queries relating to the COVID vaccine

India, which is one of the world's biggest drugmakers, on January 19 had decided to send vaccines under grant assistance to several countries. Pakistan has decided to first administer vaccines to frontline workers, health workers and people having 65 years of age

The prime minister will also deliver the keynote address at the CERAWeek Conference-2021, which will be held virtually from March 1 to 5

Serum delivered 600,000 doses of Covishield vaccines from Pune to Accra in Ghana. The vaccines arrived on a flight from Mumbai, via Dubai, where the flight also collected a shipment of syringes from a Gavi-funded stockpile at UNICEF's regional supply hub

Last year in September, Novavax had announced its deal with Serum Institute in order to produce 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines

In an annual letter released on January 27, titled 'The Year Global Health Went Local', Bill and Melinda Gates wrote that in order to stop the hardships faced last year from happening again pandemic preparedness must be taken as seriously as we take the threat of war

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gheberyesus hailed India's coronavirus vaccine efforts on Tuesday, saying India continues to show its resolve to end the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, Microsoft co-founder and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-chairman, Bill Gates also appreciated India's efforts against coronavirus, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of India being ready to launch the world's biggest vaccination drive against coronavirus. Watch the video for more.

This daunting challenge is not only for India but also for all the governments across the globe as they start inoculating their populations to tackle the pandemic, noted Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist of WHO

It's great to see India's leadership in scientific innovation and vaccine manufacturing capability as the world works to end the COVID-19 pandemic, tweets the billionaire philanthropist

Suffering poor financial health, Central government has not given a concrete answer on who will bear the cost of vaccinating Indians - Centre, states, or the people themselves

The SII CEO says considering the high demand for vaccines in the wake of coronavirus, the next decade could be a \"golden one\" for the entire vaccine industry

World's biggest vaccine maker has already manufactured over 50 million doses; further production will start as soon as it gets necessary approvals in India and the UK. SII is hoping to supply 3 billion doses of vaccine in 2021

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In his latest blog post, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-chairman said his foundation has also taken some of the financial risks on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and that Serum won't have to take a full loss

The goal of COVAX is to deliver two billion doses of safe, effective vaccines that have passed regulatory approval and/or WHO prequalification by the end of 2021

The US needs to help all of humanity, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said when asked about the executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which prioritises distribution of the vaccine to Americans before it goes to people in other countries

As the country plans to vaccinate 30 crore people by July in the first phase, it may be difficult to bank alone on the Indian vaccines, especially Serum Institute's (SII) Covishield