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Vietnam Expresses Concern Over Covid Vaccine Inequalities Between Countries

The Covid-19 pandemic had revealed many inequalities between countries, including the anxious gap in vaccination, said Vietnam's Ambassador to the UN.



Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy. (Photo: Baoquocte)

Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations made the remarks on July 27 (Hanoi time) while attending the UN Security Council’s first consultation on the implementation of Resolution 2565, which was adopted on February 26 on the equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.

In his remarks, he said that the Covid-19 pandemic had revealed many inequalities between countries, including the anxious gap in vaccination against Covid-19 that could threaten peace-building efforts and development achievements, according to the VNA.

He emphasized the need to ensure that everyone is vaccinated, has access to Covid-19 testing and treatment services, and called on countries to provide financial support and vaccine supplies for the COVAX Facility. The Ambassador also highlighted the importance of long-term measures such as preventing and ending conflicts, boosting economic development, enhancing people's livelihoods, providing finance for development, and responding to economic, climate, and epidemic challenges.

At the meeting, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support Oscar Fernandez-Taranco and Acting Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ramesh Rajasingham delivered reports on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the humanitarian and socio-economic situation in conflict zones and efforts by the UN system to support vaccine distribution to these areas.

UNSC members called for increased cooperation among countries as well as international organizations and mechanisms to distribute vaccines fairly and at low prices to countries in crisis. They agreed that the global pandemic has caused many serious socio-economic consequences for countries in conflict, and at the same time increased political tensions in many places.



Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support Oscar Fernandez-Taranco. (Photo: UN)

The UNSC members urged the international community to continue to support efforts to cope with the increasing number of infections and also the indirect consequences of the pandemic in the context that many people are not ready for vaccination.

The Covid-19 resolution, adopted by the Security Council in February this year, calls for the strengthening of national and multilateral approaches and international cooperation, such as the COVAX facility, to facilitate equitable and affordable access to Covid-19 vaccines in armed conflict situations, post-conflict situations, and complex humanitarian emergencies, The Hindu said.

It also stressed the need to develop international partnerships particularly to scale up manufacturing and distribution capabilities, in recognition of different national contexts, and noted the need to maintain incentives for the development of new health products. The resolution recognized the role of extensive immunization against Covid-19 as a global public good for health.

The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 194 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.16 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.

It is expected that the COVAX Facility will deliver 2 billion doses of vaccines worldwide in 2021 and 1.8 billion doses to 92 poorer economies by early 2022. However, as of July 23, the program has only distributed 136 million doses, Vietnamnews said.


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