Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Thank you for joining us for today’s briefing.
Yesterday, Ghana became the first country outside India to receive COVID-19 vaccine doses from the COVAX Facility.
This is an important first step towards realizing our shared vision of vaccine equity.
Tomorrow, we expect doses to arrive in Côte d’Ivoire, and more doses will be shipped to more countries in the coming days and weeks.
I would like to thank our COVAX partners at Gavi, CEPI and UNICEF, who have helped bring us to this point, and the Member States who have provided the resources.
I would especially like to thank G7 countries who committed US$4.3 billion of new funding for the ACT Accelerator and COVAX at their meeting last week. Some also agreed to donate much-needed doses.
But this is just the beginning. We still have a lot of work to do, and significant challenges to overcome.
WHO and our COVAX partners are working closely with manufacturers, and with all of your governments, so that vaccination of health workers and older people is underway in all countries within the first 100 days of this year. We have just 44 days left.
But I must be frank: I am deeply disturbed that even as some countries speak about solidarity and equity, we are aware of several high-income countries who already have large bilateral deals approaching key manufacturers, including the Serum Institute of India, who are producing vaccines that COVAX is counting on.
These actions undermine COVAX and deprive health workers and vulnerable people around the world of life-saving vaccines.
I understand full well that all governments have an obligation to protect their own people.
But the best way to do that is by suppressing the virus everywhere at the same time.
The more the virus circulates anywhere, the more opportunities it has to mutate in ways that could make vaccines less effective.
And the longer the pandemic drags on, the longer trade and travel will be disrupted, and the longer the global recovery will take.
I know that all of us are tired of this pandemic. We are ready to get back to our lives, to get our societies moving again, and to get our economies back on track.
Vaccines have given us all hope.
But it is critical to remember that vaccines by themselves will not end this pandemic.
Vaccines are only one piece of the puzzle. We must also continue to expand access to rapid diagnostics, oxygen and dexamethasone. Ongoing research and development for new tools is also vital.
And we must continue to apply the proven public health measures that many countries have used to successfully prevent or control transmission for more than a year.
We must continue avoiding crowds and keeping up physical distancing, masks, ventilation and hand hygiene, alongside robust programmes to test, trace, isolate and treat.
As we have already seen, if we let down our guard too quickly, if we rush to re-open our economies and throw public health measures aside, the virus will come roaring back.
We cannot keep lurching from lockdown to lockdown, stumbling between crisis and carelessness.
As much as we may want it to, this virus will not suddenly disappear.
We must take a long-term, sustainable approach, following necessary public health measures to drive down transmission, while protecting livelihoods and getting our children back into school.
We must continue to take special care to protect our most vulnerable, while maintaining essential health services, including for mental health.
We still have a long road ahead. Many countries have managed to keep the worst of this pandemic at bay. Following public health measures works. There are no shortcuts.
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On Monday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres is convening a virtual High-Level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian situation in Yemen, hosted by the Governments of Switzerland and Sweden and the United Nations.
Yemen is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with more than 20 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
More than five million people are now at risk of famine. And already, half a million children under five could die from hunger in the coming weeks, unless they receive urgent treatment.
All of this, even as the already fragile health care system has had to deal with COVID-19.
This current crisis comes at a time, after years of conflict, when there is now a real opportunity for peace in Yemen. We have to act on it.
Two years ago, generous funding helped hold off famine. It is time to step up again. The situation now is even more grave.
As Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock noted yesterday, “Left unchecked, hunger and conflict will spin an unending vicious cycle.”
The 2021 Response Plan includes an ask of US$3.85 billion.
I ask you to draw the attention of your capitals to this urgent need, and to Monday’s pledging event, to ensure the response is fully funded.
Excellencies, as always we are grateful for your support and continued engagement.
We look forward to your questions and comments.
I thank you. Jude, back to you.