UN asks G20 nations to prepare ‘Global Covid-19 Vaccination Plan’

The Secretary-General of United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has asked the G20 nations to prepare a “Global Covid-19 Vaccination Plan” on February 17, 2020.

Highlights

• The UN asked do so while it condemned the wildly uneven and unfair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the countries.
• He stated that, the 10 wealthier countries have administered 75 percent of global vaccinations across the world.
• He emphasized that, this is a critical moment, thus, the vaccine equity is the biggest moral test for the global community.
• He stated that, 130 poorer countries of the world have not received even a single dose of the vaccine.
• Thus, he emphasized the need of the global cooperation in order to make the equitable distribution and access of the coronavirus vaccine possible.
• He called for an immediate Global Vaccination Plan including the world leaders, scientists and the vaccine manufacturers.
• The plan would also include those that can fund the effort for citizens of poor nations in order to combat global health crisis.
• He also announced to set up an ‘Emergency Task Force’ and said, that it must be ensured that everybody, everywhere, can be vaccinated.
• The secretary general further said that under the WHO’s COVAX facility, the low-income and middle-income countries can procure vaccines. But there is a need to fully fund this initiative.

WHO’s COVAX Scheme

Amid the COVID-19 infections crossing 100 million cases, the World Health Organisation’s COVAX scheme has signed the deal with Pfizer-BioNTech for 40 million doses of coronavirus vaccine for the poorer countries. The chief of WHO also stated that 150 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered under COVAX in the first quarter of 2021 after getting clearance from WHO. However, under the COVAX initiative, vaccinations will begin delivering if the UN health agency can make a supply agreement for the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and emergency use listing of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine candidate with this pace, this COVAX initiative would deliver at least two billion doses by the end of 2021.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2021