The UN calls for a "people's vaccine" against the coronavirus that is available to everyone on the planet

COVID-19 is the biggest public health crisis of our generation and for now there is no vaccine to prevent it, but when there is, a global spirit of solidarity will be needed to ensure that all people can get it, warns António Guterres and reminds that this is not the only immunization that people need. At present, 20 million children have not received all the inoculations they need to protect themselves from preventable diseases.

Vaccines are "the most important public health intervention in history, saving tens of millions of lives every year, eradicating diseases such as smallpox and preventing diseases such as measles, rubella and tetanus," the UN Secretary-General said this week.

In a video message to the GAVI World Summit, the public-private partnership for immunization, António Guterres, recalled that despite this advance in medicine, humanity is living through a time of uncertainty. "COVID-19 is the biggest public health crisis of our generation and there is still no vaccine," he said, adding that while working on developing one, it must be understood that it will not be immunization alone that will solve the problem.

"A vaccine, in and of itself, is not enough. We need global solidarity to ensure that all people, everywhere in the world, have access to it. A vaccine against COVID-19 must be seen as a public good: a people's vaccine, as more and more world leaders are calling for," Guterres emphasized, stressing that diseases have no borders.
GAVI's work an example to follow

Guterres called for following the example of the GAVI Alliance's work on immunization, which makes immunizations available to many people of all ages and economic levels in all countries. "We at the United Nations are proud to be part of this effort towards universal health coverage and we are committed to being part of the next phase," he said.

The UN head referred to existing vaccines that do not reach all the people who need them and cited that 20 million children have not received all the immunizations they need, and that 20% of them have never been vaccinated. "And now, in the shadow of COVID-19, their situation is even more desperate," he said, adding that vaccination campaigns have been suspended because of the emergency.

To counter this situation, the Secretary-General called on the international community to make three commitments:

1. To find safe ways to continue vaccination campaigns amidst the spread of the coronavirus

2. Use vaccine delivery networks to distribute other vital inputs to primary health centres

3. Ensure that, where available, the COVID-19 vaccine reaches the entire population.

Concluding his message, António Guterres stressed the urgency for the GAVI alliance to have the necessary funds to sustain its work and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.