President Moon: "Securing COVID-19 Data"... Bill Gates: "Korea's Cooperation Accelerates Vaccine and Treatment Development" (Update)

President Moon Jae-in is having a phone conversation with Bill Gates, Chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, at the Yeomin Building of the Blue House on the morning of the 10th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sunhee] President Moon Jae-in held a phone call on the morning of the 10th with Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, agreeing to cooperate on the development of vaccines and treatments for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Kang Min-seok, spokesperson for the Blue House, stated in an afternoon briefing, "President Moon and Chairman Gates pledged to maintain close communication as important partners in responding to COVID-19." The call was arranged at the suggestion of Chairman Gates and lasted 25 minutes starting at 10 a.m.

During the call, President Moon expressed gratitude to Chairman Gates, who is working from home under the Washington state government’s stay-at-home order, for initiating the call. He said, "I believe efforts to develop treatments are as important as vaccine development efforts," and introduced that "Korea is striving to develop treatments with strong government support through various research institutes and pharmaceutical companies." He added, "Korea has secured a large amount of data, including plasma from COVID-19 recovered patients," emphasizing that "cooperation is also necessary for the development and distribution of treatments."

President Moon said, "Our government was the first Asian country to contribute to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and from this year, we plan to contribute to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) as well." He continued, "The Gates Foundation also supports international organizations such as GAVI and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), which is headquartered in Seoul, and I understand that it is jointly investing with our government in the 'Right Fund'."

GAVI is a public-private partnership established in 2000 with the purpose of vaccine development and distribution and supporting developing countries. The Gates Foundation has been a founding partner of GAVI, contributing over $300 million annually (a cumulative total of $4.1 billion). Spokesperson Kang explained, "Since joining as a donor country in 2010, our government has continuously increased its contributions, providing $15 million between 2019 and 2021."

Established in 2017, CEPI supports research on vaccine and treatment development for infectious diseases, with the Gates Foundation pledging $100 million over five years at its launch. IVI’s funding for vaccine research, development, and distribution activities is largely contributed by our government and the Gates Foundation.

The Right Fund, established in July last year, was jointly funded by our Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Gates Foundation, and domestic life science companies. Of the total fund of 50 billion KRW, our government contributed 25 billion KRW and the Gates Foundation 12.5 billion KRW. Regarding this, Chairman Gates stated, "Many experts at IVI are developing effective vaccines for the COVID-19 crisis," and "We plan to more than double its growth this year." He also said, "Treatments can be developed faster than vaccines, can reduce fatalities, and prevent overburdening of medical staff," expressing hope to "accelerate the development of not only vaccines but also treatments in cooperation with Korea."

He added, "I wanted to personally meet President Moon to thank him for efforts to overcome COVID-19," and said, "Korea is managing COVID-19 well and becoming a model for the world." He further commented, "President Moon has shown leadership," and "I will also learn from Korea’s response."

In particular, Chairman Gates expressed concern, saying, "Developing countries have weak healthcare systems and social distancing measures are difficult to implement, so many COVID-19 deaths are expected to occur in these vulnerable countries."

In response, President Moon said, "Our government is also concerned about the situation in developing countries and is providing humanitarian aid to vulnerable nations," adding, "There are many requests for Korean-made diagnostic kits, and we are actively seeking ways to provide as much assistance as possible." He further stated, "We hope to expand cooperation with the foundation in areas such as humanitarian aid to countries vulnerable to infectious diseases and vaccine development and distribution."