The Center for Global Development (CGD) has released a working paper by Ruchir Agarwal, Avoiding Trillion-Dollar Delays: Pooled Pandemic Financing to Reduce Global Losses (September 2025). The paper underscores how the absence of a coordinated financing mechanism during COVID-19 forced countries to secure resources independently, leading to inequities in access and delayed responses. Low- and middle-income countries, often at the back of the queue for vaccines and treatments, suffered disproportionate health and economic consequences, amplifying the global cost of the pandemic.
Agarwal argues that timely and predictable health financing is central to future pandemic preparedness. He proposes Day Zero Financing—a pooled, pre-approved liquidity line backed by multilateral development banks and donors—to enable swift and equitable access to essential countermeasures. By ensuring rapid resource mobilisation, such a mechanism could limit economic disruption, save lives, and represent one of the most cost-effective tools for strengthening global health security.