An EU-led coronavirus fundraiser fell short of its goal. The U.S.'s lack of participation didn't help.
A European Union-led fundraiser for coronavirus vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics failed to meet its 7.5 billion euro goal Monday, and the United States might be one reason why.
The effort was meant to be global, but the U.S. and Russia didn't participate. While their absences undoubtedly contributed to the failure (7.4 billion euros were raised, so the end result wasn't far behind the goal, though Politico notes funds that were already spent or allocated were also counted, raising questions about how much of the pledged money represented new resources), the larger concern may be that some countries will isolate the usage of a potential vaccine for its own citizens first.
U.S. officials didn't do much to dissuade that fear when they reportedly refused to offer an explanation as to why Washington wasn't involved in the summit.
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That said, President Trump on Sunday did say he doesn't care where a vaccine comes from and will consider it good news no matter what. Of course, that doesn't offer much clarity about the administration's intent should a vaccine first be developed in the U.S. Tim O'Donnell
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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