CELAC endorses CARICOM’s call for Global Vaccine Summit

Mar 27, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is supporting the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) call for a global summit on equitable access and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines necessary to help countries recover from the current pandemic.
In January this year, CARICOM had expressed deep concern at the current prospect of inequitable vaccines, stating, “The reality is that small states will find it difficult to compete in the market place to ensure equitable access for vaccines. Given the transmissibility of the virus, all countries are vulnerable and should work together.”
CARICOM had outlined that the summit should be conducted by the WHO including its access to COVID-19 Tools Facilitation Council, which was has been supporting global efforts to provide tools to fight the disease since April.
In a statement issued recently, CELAC’s expressed concern over the lack of delivery of COVID-19 vaccines in the island states of the region, and while it expressed support for the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility, it also called for the expedition of vaccines to the “Wider Caribbean” as quickly and equitably as possible.
“Therefore, a call is made to the COVAX mechanism to expedite the delivery of vaccine doses to the countries of the region, particularly to those participating in the Advanced Market Commitment modality, a financial mechanism within the COVAX initiative that allows the poorest countries in the world to have access to the vaccine against COVID-19 through donations,” CELAC noted.
Further, it was highlighted that it is essential to strengthen technical assistance to the least favoured countries and facilitate the affordability of financial instruments so that they can access vaccines against COVID-19 as quickly as possible. Multilateral initiatives must be implemented to enable these countries and also stimulate massive rapid economic recovery, CELAC stated too.
Furthermore, the organization said that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of maintaining a strong, united and supportive region, with no country excluded from universal, fair, equitable and timely access to medicines, vaccines and medical supplies, hence, their call for the global summit to address the urgent issue.

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