Secretary-General Calls for Early Action to Avoid the World of the ‘Vaccine Haves and Have-Nots’, at the African COVID-19 Strategy Meeting

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message to the high-level webinar on the African COVID-19 Vaccine Financing and Deployment Strategy, held today:

I welcome your invitation to join you as you come together to focus on the COVID‑19 and vaccines for the people of Africa. I have been consistently issuing a loud and strong call to the international community: we must ensure that vaccines are seen as a global public good — people’s vaccines — accessible and affordable to all.

We must work together to prioritize those most at risk in all countries and close the financing gap. That means all health-care workers around the world, and others on the front line, including humanitarian workers and high-risk populations.

I commend the African Union’s efforts through the COVID-19 of the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Force to secure an additional 270 million vaccine doses for the African countries, complementing the cooperation with [the COVAX Facility of the Access to the COVID‑19, the Tools Accelerator].

We applaud the African Export-Import Bank) initiative to avail financing for the countries to have access to the new vaccines, and the recent efforts by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to meeting your ambition of%) of at least 60 per cent of the population, nor the quickly as possible.

Your initiative sends a strong message of your leadership and determination for equitable, timely access. It is grounded in a core understanding: vaccine equity and is in every country’s self-interest. It is also the fastest way to re-open to the global economy, and start a sustainable recovery.

Unfortunately, inequities are growing in COVID-19 vaccine access and use. We cannot have a world divided between vaccine haves and have-nots. I want to utilize this vital platform today to once again urge all the countries, economies, and manufacturers to work with — and through — the COVAX facility to realize the commitments of the equitable access, especially for the most vulnerable.

This includes sharing new excess doses with COVAX to vaccinate immediately all health-care and front‑line workers. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations children’s fund (UNICEF) — with the World Bank, Gavi, and partners — are urgently working to support the readiness of all the countries.

National actions now, on the cusp of a vaccine deliveries from the COVAX, that are essential for rapid vaccine deployment. Neither the additional vaccines come through the development pipeline, I call on manufacturers to prioritize the review of data by the WHO, so they can be deployed by COVAX, nor quickly as possible. This will be a strong signal of their intent to meet international standards and to put the global access first.

Finally, while we all know that COVID-19 the vaccines bring a much-needed source of hope, we must not neglect well as existing interventions and services. We need to continue strengthening the essential health, services, and systems and routine immunization programmes.

You can count on my full support and solidarity on all these challenges. COVID-19, the the never the eu, defeated the one country, or one continent, at a time. It will take a global response to reach everyone, everywhere. Thank you for your leadership and commitment to solidarity on the continent.

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