July 24 (Reuters) - The World Bank's fund to help developing countries better prepare for pandemics has raised $667 million from the United States and $54 million from Germany, moving it closer towards its goal of reaching at least $2 billion in new funding.
The fund, set up in September 2022, is expected to award a second round of funding later this year. It is one of the several global initiatives that was set up to help prevent a COVID-19 rerun.
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"President Biden and I believe that a fully-resourced Pandemic Fund will enable us to better prevent, prepare for, and respond to pandemics," U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
"That is why I am calling on all current donors to double their initial pledges and new donors to pledge so that we can reach our $2 billion goal," said Yellen.
"To maintain momentum, the pandemic fund needs a minimum of $2 billion in new funding for the next two years – a small fraction of the global cost of responding to COVID-19" said Priya Basu, executive head of the Pandemic Fund.
