Thailand Cites COVID-19 vaccines as a Humanitarian Necessity
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Don Pramudwinai underlined COVID-19 vaccines as a humanitarian necessity at the First Meeting of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation.
The meeting took place on August 5 and was chaired by Mr. Wang Yi, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of China. It was attended by high-level representatives from 24 countries, international organizations, and vaccine manufacturing companies.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs called on countries with vaccine surplus to contribute more to the global supply of COVID-19 vaccines through bilateral and multilateral frameworks, including the COVAX Facility.
He said that countries, pharmaceutical companies, and financial institutions must also cooperate and facilitate the transfer of COVID-19 production technology to developing countries as a means to increase global supply. At the same time, the international community must devise constructive measures to prepare and respond to new pandemics.
A report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that participating countries viewed that new variant mutations of COVID-19 are adding to current challenges in fighting the virus, causing a continued rise in global infection rates. Urgent development of COVID-19 vaccines is required to tackle the mutations.
They expressed support for the ongoing discussion on an intellectual property rights waiver of COVID-19 vaccine technology at the WTO and emphasized that COVID-19 vaccines must be global public goods with equitable access to all, in particular the developing countries and low-income countries.
The participants further called for solidarity and stronger international cooperation in the fight against COVID-19, and non-discriminatory recognition of vaccines for international travel which should be based on the WHO’s Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL).
A Joint Statement of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation was agreed upon as the outcome of the Meeting. Mr. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, contributed a Welcome Message at the opening session. Moreover, Mr. Ant๓nio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, and Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), also shared views at the meeting.
