Vaccine Equity And Resilience Building: Two Tests For Global Solidarity High-level Debate: Monday 8 February

COVID-19 has had a devastating social and economic impact everywhere, but particularly in developing countries. The absence of a comprehensive global strategy to ensure vaccine access in low and middle-income countries threatens to prolong the pandemic, escalating inequalities within and between countries and delaying the global economic recovery.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría will discuss how to ensure fair access to vaccines and build resilience in developing countries – two big tests for global solidarity – with World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, political leaders, heads of development agencies and civil society organisations at a virtual debate from 12:00 to 14:00 CET on Monday 8 February. The event will be webcast live at this link. Journalists can also register as participants using the button below and can feed questions into the discussion using the Zoom Q&A function or via social media.

Evidence and recommendations from two OECD reports will feed the debate. The December 2020 edition of the OECD’s annual Development Co-operation Report looks at the implications of the COVID-19 crisis on international development for 2021 and beyond. A new report published today, An Equal Shot at Recovery: COVID-19 Vaccines for Developing Countries, examines the case for multilateral approaches to vaccine access, maps bottlenecks in developing countries, and identifies priority actions for policy makers.

Speakers include:

Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization

Francisco André, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Portugal (EU Presidency)

Adama Coulibaly, Minister of Finance, Cote d’Ivoire

Ángeles Moreno Bau, State Secretary for International Co-operation, Spain

Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition, South Africa

Dag-Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development, Norway

Seth Berkley, CEO, Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance

Jagan Chapagain, Secretary General, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Thomas Cueni, Director General, International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations

Charlotte Petri-Gornitzka, Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF

Gayle Smith, President and CEO, ONE Campaign

Vera Songwe, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships

Uta Boellhoff, Deputy Director General, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Further information on the event is available at this link.

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