COVID-19: UN Secy-Gen says 'we are all in this together', urges nations to donate vaccines

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres took to his official Twitter handle to urge people across the globe to come together in the fight against the deadly virus. He reminded people that the world is at a "pivotal moment" in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and by donating vaccine doses, the pandemic could end sooner.

Highlighting the new global understanding of "we are in this together", he stated how the entire world has come to face the same enemy- COVID-19, after 75 long years.

Global cooperation 

A country can't exist in a vacuum, neither in good times nor during a global pandemic. Cementing the notion and encouraging the world to come together in this fight, Antonio Guterres stated, "To avoid ending up back at square one, we need a quantum leap in global cooperation. Only together will we beat this virus."

Notably, the contagions of the novel coronavirus been multiplicating cum mutating speedily therefore they can possibly undermine COVID-19 vaccines worldwide too. Bringing this to light, the UN Secretary-General established on Twitter as follows, 

COVID-19 vaccines donations

Previously, Antonio Guterres on behalf of UNICEF shared reasons as to why COVID vaccines dose donations are essential. He enumerated albeit 1.4 billion doses have been administered, "Yet less than 1 per cent of global supply is reaching low-income countries". He professed that the donation of COVID-19 vaccines from well-supplied countries was the only easy way to increase the number of doses available to COVAX. 

The statement stated, " While well-supplied countries are vaccinating their entire adult populations against COVID-19, others with very poor vaccination coverage are witnessing dangerous surges in infection rates and the emergence of new variants. The recent deadly spike in India could be a precursor to what will happen across the region, and globally if this inequity prevails.

Call to action

G7 (Group of Seven) leaders to expand the global COVID vaccination drive by donating a minimum of one billion doses to poorer countries. The UK is hosting this year’s G7 conference in Cornwall from Friday, June 11 to Sunday, June 13. The meeting is expected to see the leaders of the world’s “most advanced economies” in attendance. Britain itself has announced to give 100 million surplus doses before the end of 2022, including five million in the coming weeks. The US President reaffirmed his commitment to leading an international and coordinated vaccination effort, announcing he will donate 80 million COVID-19  vaccines – the 60 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines previously announced and an additional 20 million doses by the end of June. 

Now, this comes as the UK had long been accused of hoarding COVID vaccines, creating a situation of what is being termed as “vaccine apartheid”.

While the United Nations welcomed the collaboration by the world's richer countries, UN Secretary-General established that more was needed. 

"We need more than that," he said of the G7 plan. "We need a global vaccination plan. We need to act with a logic, with a sense of urgency, and with the priorities of a war economy, and we are still far from getting that," he added.