The Media Line — International leaders at the G20 summit called on Sunday in a closing statement for COVID-19 vaccines and other pandemic-related supplies to be distributed equitably to lower-income countries.
“We have mobilized resources to address the immediate financing needs in global health to support the research, development, manufacturing and distribution of safe and effective COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines,” the Leaders’ Declaration said at the end of the two-day virtual summit on the coronavirus and its economic fallout.
“We will spare no effort to ensure their affordable and equitable access for all people, consistent with members’ commitments to incentivize innovation,” it said.
Earlier this month, the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, in conjunction with Germany’s BioNTech, announced that it had a coronavirus vaccine that was 90% effective. Last week, Moderna said that it had manufactured a vaccine with a 94.5% success rate. Pfizer later revised its efficacy rate even higher.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, generally referred to as MbS, noted the unifying impact of the virus.
“This pandemic knows no borders. It has reached all countries and affected [them], directly and indirectly…. In order to confront this global threat facing all of humanity, the G20 took the initiative to adopt unprecedented measures and coordinated actions to deal with the pandemic and its aftermath,” he said in the statement.
Some of these measures include what the crown prince called an “unprecedented G20 economic stimulus” of $11 trillion.
MbS also touted the continuation of the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative, which has so far provided $14 billion in debt relief for developing countries and their more than a billion inhabitants.
The G20 members are Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, the EU, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
