WASHINGTON (Reuters), – Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury Secretary, met Tuesday with World Health Organization head in Washington and agreed to collaborate on global pandemic financing and preparedness.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO Director-General) and Yellen discussed the importance to continue to vaccinate 70% population across all countries in this year’s vaccination campaign, as well as strengthening the global structure to counter pandemics.

“They agreed on the urgency of tackling the chronic under-funding of pandemic preparedness before the world’s attention turns elsewhere,” Treasury said in a statement.

A Reuters count shows that nearly 491,000,000 people are infected worldwide by the coronavirus. Over 6.5 Million have already died.

Yellen underscored the United States’ commitment to working closely with the WHO, the World Bank and the Group of 20 major economies to develop a financial intermediary fund on pandemic preparedness housed at the World Bank.

Tedros and She agreed that such a fund was an essential element in the architecture of pandemic preparedness.

Yellen stressed that the U.S. is committed to supporting countries in getting more COVID-19 vaccinations around the globe and to supporting coordinated, robust efforts with international financial institutions.

The G20 Finance-Health Task Force, she said, should be working to connect finance ministers with their counterparts in health to enhance the global healthcare architecture.

Tedros praised Yellen’s leadership for pushing for a stronger global response COVID-19, improved longer-term panademic preparedness, and increased collaboration in health finance, according to a source who was present at the meeting.

They discussed also the barriers to increasing vaccination rates as well the need for greater coordination and clear public messaging.