IMF plan seeks to vaccinate 40% of world’s population this year

In an announcement that coincided with the G20 summit on global health, the IMF Friday outlined a $50 billion plan that it said would make it possible to “vaccinate at least 40 percent of the population in all countries by the end of 2021 and at least 60 percent by the first half of 2022.”

In a blog post, the IMF’s leaders emphasized the need for the international community to invest substantial financial resources immediately, rather than make commitments for future spending. They wrote that “the strategy requires not just commitments but upfront financing, upfront vaccine donations, and ‘at-risk’ investment for the world to insure against downside scenarios.”...