UN chief: COVID-19 vaccine must be affordable and available to all – UN News

The outbreakremainsout of control, Secretary-General AntnioGuterresdeclaredin hispress conferenceahead of theUNGeneral Assembly(UNGA)High Level Week, noting that soon onemillion liveswill be lost to the virus.

Recognizing that manypintheir hopes on a vaccine, hesaid,lets be clear: there is no panacea in a pandemic.

A vaccine alone cannot solve this crisis,certainly not in the near term,stressedtheworlds top diplomat.We need to massivelyexpand new and existing tools that can respond to new cases and provide vital treatment to suppress transmission and save lives, especially over the next 12 months.

Heemphasizedthat because the virus respects no borders,a vaccine mustbe seen asa global public good, affordable and available to all, but itrequiresa quantum leap in funding.

Moreover,people must be willing tobe vaccinated,buta proliferation of misinformation on vaccinesis fuelingvaccine-hesitancy,and igniting wild conspiracy theories, noted the UN chief.

He spoke of alarming reports thatlarge populationsinvariouscountriesare reluctant,oroutrightrefusing,to take anew coronavirusvaccine.

In the face of this lethal disease, we must do our utmost to halt deadly misinformation,affirmed the Secretary-General.

Mr. Guterres called for a global ceasefireback in March, recognizingthe coronavirusas the number one global security threat in our world today.

AndnextTuesday heflagged that would renewtheappeal at thebeginning of theGeneral Debate,forthe international communityto mobilize all efforts for the global ceasefire to become a reality by the end of the year.

The UN chief recapped that hopeful new steps toward peace have been taken,from Afghanistan to Sudan,anda slowdown infightinginSyria, Libya, Ukraine and elsewhere, had created an opportunityfor diplomacy.

In Yemen, we are pressing for a ceasefirehe said, and even thoughdistrust is deep across these and other crises,we must persevere.

We must seize every opening in the weeks ahead and make a new collective push for peace, upheldthe Secretary-General.

The UN chief then turned to otherglobal fragilities.

Even before the pandemic, the world was far off course in efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)and losing the battle against climate change, he said.

Mr. Guterres recalledthat thenorthernhemispherewasjustcoming out of thehottest summer on recordand thatgreenhouse gas concentrationsin 2020hadreachednew record highs.

The world is burning, he told the journalists.

However,Mr. Guterresmaintained thatthe post-pandemic phaseofferedan opportunitytoget on track and tame the flames,but thatit must be greenaligned with the SDGs andthe Paris Climate Agreement.

Effective multilateralism,gender equalityand the voices of youthmust also be part of recoveryefforts.

Hesaidthat on Monday,Member Stateswould adopt a declaration marking theUNs75thanniversarycommitting to a reinvigorated multilateralism.

Global solidarityis required to transform the global economy, transition tozero carbon, ensureuniversal health coverage, movetowards a universal basic income,andshift tomore open and inclusivedecision-making, the UN chiefmaintained.

And itrejectsgo-it-alone nationalist approaches and divisive populist appeals,heasserted.

In this anniversary year,we face our own 1945 moment,the Secretary-Generalsaid, adding that it must be met with solidarity and unity like never beforeto overcome todays emergency, get the world moving,working and prospering againwhileupholdingthe vision of the Charter.

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UN chief: COVID-19 vaccine must be affordable and available to all - UN News