11 BLN DOSES NEEDED TO VACCINATE 70 PCT OF WORLD AGAINST COVID-19: UN CHIEF

Sat 07 August 2021:

Over 11 billion dollars COVID-19 vaccine doses are required to fully inoculate about 70% of the population against the new coronavirus, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated.

Guterres said vaccines must reach everyone everywhere “as quickly as possible” in a renewed push to vaccinate the world to avoid the emergence of new and more infectious variants of the virus at the first International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation on Thursday.

“This is a matter of fairness and justice – but it’s also crucial to avoid the emergence of further variants that can resist the current vaccines and undermine national vaccination efforts,” said Guterres, at the inaugural gathering.

In reference to the 11 billion vaccine shots, Guterres said that it was going to “take the largest public health effort in history” to achieve the goal which he deemed “a key threshold to ending the acute phase of this pandemic.”

“We also need an Emergency Task Force – at the G20 level – to coordinate its implementation,” he said.

He added that the world’s vaccine manufacturing capacity will need to be doubled and that they will need to ensure equitable distribution under the UN-led vaccine supply initiative COVAX. It will also require strengthening and building local production capacities across the world to address supply chain bottlenecks, he said.

Guterres also praised the recently signed COVAX agreements for the provision of Chinese vaccines such as Sinovac and Sinopharm, saying that the deal might unlock more than 500 million doses of vaccine.

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