Vaccinate whole world to end pandemic, UN chief tells Davos

YEREVAN, January 18, /ARKA/. Addressing the virtual World Economic Forum, on Monday, the United Nations’ Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, told world and business leaders that “global solidarity is missing in action”.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, for the second year in a row, the Forum scrapped its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, for a series of online plenaries and discussions over the year ahead, under the banner of The Davos Agenda. 

Speaking from New York, Guterres said that this year’s event takes place “in the shadow of an enormously difficult period for economies, people and our planet.”

According to the UN’s flagship economic forecast, released last week, the world is emerging from the depths of a paralyzing economic crisis, but recovery remains fragile and uneven. 

With persistent labour market challenges, supply-chain disruptions, rising inflation and looming debt traps, the recovery is now slowing down drastically.

“The last two years have demonstrated a simple but brutal truth - if we leave anyone behind, we leave everyone behind”, the UN chief said. 

The Secretary-General then urged all participants in the Forum to focus on three urgent areas. 

The first one, he explained, is to confront the pandemic with equity and fairness. 

Reminding of the World Health Organization goal to vaccinate 40 percent of people in all countries by the end of last year, and 70 per cent by the middle of this year, Mr. Guterres said the world was nowhere even close. 

In fact, he added, vaccination rates in high-income countries are “shamefully” seven times higher than in African countries.

Besides a focus on vaccine equity, he argued that the world must prepare for the next pandemic with investments in monitoring, early detection and rapid response plans in every country. -0-