sum of twenty million francs to bridge the deficit, followed by the people's initiative to also accept a role in the division of the financial responsibilities. COVID-19 pandemic Pasteur was the first institute in Europe to culture and sequence the genome of what was later named the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which caused the COVID-19 pandemic, on 29 January 2020. The institute deposited the complete sequences of the virus samples taken from two of the first French cases on the GISAID database platform. The institute has also been involved in research and development of testing and epidemiological modelling, including in Africa via its network institutions. In 2020, Pasteur were involved in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with Merck & Co., but this was abandoned in January 2021 after unsuccessful clinical trials. Institute Pasteur in Cambodia was a key institution involved in the public health response during the COVID-19 pandemic in Cambodia, as well as conducting research into SARS-CoV-2. Pasteur Institute of Dakar were also involved in Senegal's health response. Accomplishments of the Institute's members Roux's cure of diphtheria and studies on syphilis Not long after the institute's inauguration, Roux, now less occupied in the fight against rabies, resumed in a new lab and with the help of a new colleague, Yersin, his experiments on diphtheria. This disease used to kill thousands of children every year: an associated condition was commonly called croup, which created fake membranes in the patients' throats, therefore killing them by suffocation. It was called "Horrible monster, sparrowhawk of the shadows" by Victor Hugo in his Art of being a grandfather. The painter Albert Gustaf Aristides Edelfelt made a painting portraying Pasteur in his laboratory while he was trying to cure this illness. Roux and Yersin grew the bacillus that causes it and studied, thanks to various experiments they did on rabbits, its pathogenic power and symptoms, like the paralysis of the respiratory muscles. It is this last consequence of diphtheria that provided the two researchers with a clue to the nature of the disease since it is caused by an intoxication due to a toxin introduced into the organism by the bacillus, that while secreting this particular venom is able to multiply itself: they were therefore inclined to think that the bacillus owed its virulence to the toxin. After filtrating the microbial culture of the Corynebacterium diphtheriae and injecting it