Source: IMF in French June 30, 2021 Washington: Leaders of the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) met today for the first Meeting of the Task Force on COVID-19 Vaccines, Treatments and Diagnostic Tools in Developing Countries. They issued the following joint statement: “As many countries grapple with new variants and a third wave of COVID-19, accelerating access to vaccines becomes even more critical to end the pandemic around the world and ensure widespread growth . We are deeply concerned about the lack of vaccines, treatments, diagnostic tools and delivery assistance available to developing countries. Urgent action is now needed to halt the growing death toll from the pandemic and to prevent the divergence in the economic recovery from growing further between advanced countries and those without.