UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said that Covid-19 pandemic is indeed much more than a health crisis, adding it is a social and economic crisis with dramatic long-term consequences for livelihoods, businesses, and for economies.
Guterres said this while addressing business leaders at a virtual roundtable event hosted jointly with the IKEA Foundation and Purpose – the social mobilisation organisation which partners with the Department of Global Communications leading the UN Verified initiative, to combat misinformation.
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought a tsunami of suffering, taken over 3.4 million lives and 500 million jobs, while wiping trillions of dollars from global balance sheets, Guterres told business leaders, appealing for equitable vaccine distribution worldwide.
The UN chief recognised the many lives that have been saved: “To have you leading this meeting is a guarantee of success because what our partnership has always represented is indeed the very symbol of the values we represent”.
Having delivered safe and effective vaccines in record time, science has shone a light for some parts of the world. However, despite the World Health Organisation’s authorisation for 13 vaccines and the “incredible success” of rollouts in more than 170 countries, Guterres bemoaned “a large and growing vaccine gap between rich and poor countries”.
“Just 10 countries have administered more than 75 percent of all vaccine doses. In poorer countries, even health workers and people with underlying conditions cannot access them”, he said, adding, “this is not only unjust, it’s self-defeating and dangerous – to everyone”.
Fast, equitable vaccination is the only way “to prevent new and more dangerous variants from emerging and wreaking further havoc”, in rich and poor countries alike, said Mr. Guterres.
He said a global vaccination plan was needed, beginning with a G20 Task Force comprising countries with vaccine production and manufacturing capacities, the WHO and Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) partners, as well as international financial institutions.
“I am ready to mobilise the entire United Nations System to support this effort, but we need political will to move forward”, he said. To this end, Guterres highlighted that the private sector could leverage its influence and expertise, use its communication channels to share accurate information and donate its service and resources, to encourage inoculation.
