In a joint statement released on the G20 summit, Health Ministers from 20 countries have agreed to take drastic measures to share over 1 billion vaccine doses that are still available. The ministers also announced their intention for Covid-19 to be made more readily available. “We are all committed to ensuring that there is no shortage of vaccines,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and G20 chair Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi have both committed to ending the COVID-19 crisis around the world by an acceleration of initiatives to better prepare for future pandemics.
On Friday, the G20 Health Ministers met in a video conference to discuss important global health topics and how it relates to families. One topic was strengthening equitable access to vaccines by supporting low-income countries.
We write about the G20 Health Ministers who dissolved barriers to sharing vaccine doses. The G20 Summit on global health made history, marking a new chapter in global health policy and concluding with the signing of The Rome Declaration at an event attended by world leaders and ministers from across the globe.
“World leaders strongly committed to multilateralism and global cooperation in health,” she told reporters. “This means no export bans, keeping global supply chains open and working to extend production capacity everywhere. If we live up to these principles, the world will be better prepared for pandemics.”
The health ministers of the G20 are backing a proposal that lays out three objectives for achieving global vaccine access by 2025: Put more vaccines in developing countries, keep people from spreading preventable diseases back home, and improve reporting on vaccine safety and problems.
The G20 reaffirmed the importance of increased production and wider distribution of vaccines. The group also recognized the important role intellectual property protections play in providing a balance between promoting access to healthcare and protecting innovations from being stolen.
The European Union will make it easier to share COVID-19 vaccines by making them cheaper and putting them on a compulsory licensing pathway.
The EU will come forward with a proposal in the WTO focusing on:
- clarifying how to use compulsory licenses during a crisis like this pandemic
- supporting the expansion of production
- trade facilitation and limiting export restrictions
All G20 members acknowledged the need to address the funding gap of the ACT-Accelerator, a global collaboration to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines.
The ACT-Accelerator was launched by the World Health Organization, WHO, and the European Commission. France partnered with them to launch it as well.
The WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on the ministers “to fully fund the ACT Accelerator, as a matter of urgency.”
“The G20 has all the means to vaccinate the world, and the world cannot wait any longer,” Dr. Tedros said, urging the health ministers to “strengthen health security, nationally and globally.”
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization applauded countries donating vaccine doses on Friday, urging them to contribute more through COVAX so we can provide as many as possible before the need arises.
To meet the 2020 goal established by Gavi, we need 1.3 billion vaccine doses to be delivered from brands BioNTech/Pfizer (1 billion), Johnson and Johnson (200 million), and Moderna, around 100 million in total.
UN Secretary-General Guterres urged the G20 ministers to “share technology and knowledge” to make enough vaccines as they can while also enforcing strong primary health care.
World leaders have called for a global treaty to ensure the world is more prepared and capable in response to future pandemics.
Dr. Tedros said WHO supports “the proposal for a treaty on pandemic preparedness and response.”
“We believe such a treaty would create a high-level framework for political accountability that redefines the way countries deal with health emergencies – and that would encompass all countries, not just the richest and most powerful,” he said. “The treaty could address the challenges we’re facing now.”
The WHO currently estimates that 15.6% of the world’s population is infected with Ebola, but officials are hard at work to shrink this percentage to avoid future pandemics.
Leaders at the G20 have agreed on the need for early warning systems and triggers, which will be interoperable.
G20 Health Ministers are working to identify new viruses and variants of old ones. They claim that these vaccines will help undo the damage done by past pandemics.
Team Europe told the G20 Summit that they were going to contribute to fulfilling immediate needs.
After a meeting today in Geneva, representatives from the European Commission and industrial partners help low-income countries get vaccines.
Team Europe aims to donate 100 million doses of vaccines to low and middle-income countries until the end of this year, with COVAX (a campaign that offers free vaccination for children in Africa) playing a leading role.
Team Europe will invest in equipping Africa to produce vaccines itself. While many regions have access to health resources, poor African countries still import 99% of their own vaccine and medical needs.
A new initiative launched by Team Europe will encourage vaccine production in Africa and help increase access to health care for the continent’s population.
The European Union and its development finance institutions are backing the G20 Health Ministers’ Initiative with €1 billion for investments in infrastructure and production capacity and training and skills, supply chains management, and regulatory framework.
The initiative looks to set up several regional production hubs around the African continent.
To date, the EU has invested €4 billion in COVID-19 vaccine research and production capacity to develop vaccines that are now provided to the EU and countries across the world.
The EU has exported approximately as many vaccines to developing countries as it has taken in its own population.
The European Union has mobilized €40+ billion to support partner countries worldwide in tackling the health emergency, strengthening key sectors, and mitigating the socio-economical effects of the COVID-19 crisis.
The Italian Prime Minister, who will head the G20 this year, spoke to support the Rome declaration.
“The Rome Declaration rightly defends the role of the multilateral trading system and in particular the central role of the World Trade Organization.”
Tariffs must be eliminated, and commerce across borders should be unhindered to the greatest extent possible,” he said. “This is necessary for reacting quickly to shocks.
The Declaration reinforces the importance of knowledge in the face of current and future health crises.
“Scientific ingenuity has opened the path to exit this pandemic,” Draghi said.
“The first vaccine was submitted for approval nine months after the WHO declaration of the international emergency that’s been a truly historical achievement.”
“We must continue to invest in our scientists and provide incentives to private companies to do the same,” he said.
“Moreover, we must ensure that information is shared rapidly and openly while preserving adequate protection for intellectual property.”
The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the European Union. The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
As G20 meetings near their conclusion, the Leaders’ Summit will occur in Rome on October 30-31.
