Vice President Faisal Naseem has stated the Maldives is ready to support vaccine equity and ensure universal vaccination. He made the statement at the plenary segment of the high-level discussion held at the United Nations (UN) on the theme Galvanising Momentum for Universal Vaccination.
In the statement, Vice President Naseem emphasised the imminent need for the world to come together in collective commitment to ensure an equitable rollout of vaccines to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. The vice president said the Maldives stands in solidarity with all countries in the effort to ensure universal vaccination. He remarked that the pace and reach of COVID-19 vaccines have been uneven, unfair, and unbalanced globally, and shed light on the situation in developing and low-income countries where large percentages of the population remain disproportionately unvaccinated. He added UN members must demonstrate the necessary leadership and political will to ensure that vaccines are truly universal.
Furthermore, Vice President Naseem called on world leaders to treat vaccines as a public good and urged all countries to support and commit to waiving the COVID-19 vaccine patents, as proposed in 2020 by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). He said the UN members must also fill a grant funding gap of USD 16 billion for the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator to fight COVID-19 in low and middle-income countries.
The vice president also discussed the fiscal implications borne by developing countries through the pandemic and called on international financial institutions to work with governments to provide the financial assistance needed for pandemic policy responses. He then briefed the delegation on the national vaccination programme, and said the Maldives has made tremendous progress in its pandemic response.
Additionally, Vice President Naseem credited national effort and the assistance and generous donations of bilateral partners to Maldives' success. He concluded his remarks by calling on world leaders to take prudent action to ensure vaccine equity and achieve universal vaccination.