Covid: the Pandemic 'far from over', UN Chief

The Covid-19 pandemic is ‘far from ever’, the UN chief warned Friday, calling on governments and pharmaceutical companies to work together to deliver vaccines to “to every person, everywhere”.

Governments and pharmaceutical companies need to work together in a better way, to deliver vaccines “to every person, everywhere” – not simply in the wealthiest nations, the Secretary-General António Guterres insisted.

Mr. Guterres was addressing the GAVI COVAX international vaccine equity initiative’s Advance Market Commitment Summit 2022, which saw world leaders commit $4.8 billion to help lower-income nations boost vaccination rates, and secure better access for new vaccine procurements.

The GAVI Vaccine Alliance hosted the summit alongside G7 president, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia (which holds the presidency of the G20 industrialized nations forum), and African Union chair, Senegal.

Mr. Guterres said in order to reach the billions who have so far not received vaccine shots, countries needed to fulfill and accelerate dose-sharing and donation commitments to COVAX, with better quality of supply.

“And it means having strong national vaccine-delivery systems at the ready – including efforts to counter disinformation and get vaccines into arms. I also call on countries to commit new funding for the ACT-Accelerator and COVAX this year.”

He said the summit was “a critical reminder that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. We’re seeing 1.5 million new cases each day. Large outbreaks are spreading in Asia”, he continued together with “a new wave sweeping across Europe.”

And some countries are reporting their highest death rates since the start of the pandemic.

He said the spread of Omicron – now surging in the form of the BA2 variant in many parts of the world – was “a startling reminder of how quickly COVID-19 can mutate and spread — especially in the absence of high vaccination coverage.”