#Caribbean – December 17, 2020- Argentina and the UK hosted a virtual seminar on access to vaccines in Latin America and the Caribbean addressing the portfolio of emerging vaccines against Covid-19, the challenge of equitable distribution and how best to tackle vaccine disinformation.
On
14 December 2020, Argentina’s Health Minister, Ginés González García and the
UK’s Minister of State for the Americas, Wendy Morton MP opened the virtual
seminar “Vaccine profiles,
distribution challenges and countering vaccine disinformation in Latin America
and the Caribbean”.
The
event brought together senior officials and medical experts from across the
region to discuss efforts to bring the Covid-19 pandemic to an end and how best
to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.
Representatives
from 25 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and 11 nations from other
regions joined leaders from the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), Gavi –
the Vaccine Alliance, The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
(CEPI), the Caribbean Health Agency, and The Vaccine Confidence Project.
Doctor
Seth Berkley, Gavi CEO, updated attendees on the rapid progress of the COVAX
Facility, the global initiative working with governments and the pharmaceutical
industry to ensure that all countries, no matter their economic circumstances,
will have fair and equitable access to vaccines. Both Argentina and the UK back
the COVAX Facility and its work to pool the international community’s
collective resources, to share and mitigate risks, and to expedite vaccine
development and manufacturing.
Diverse Portfolio
The
seminar reviewed the emerging portfolio of Covid-19 vaccine candidates and the
importance of a diverse range of safe and effective vaccines to enable
distribution and delivery at the scale required to end the acute phase of the
pandemic. Given the global scale of that challenge, the answer will not lie
with one successful vaccine or one single country; a wide range of vaccines, as
is being supported by the COVAX Facility, is needed to take into account the
many different country contexts and to ensure diverse population groups can be
reached as quickly and effectively as possible. Participants addressed the
urgent need for investment in specialised distribution infrastructure for that
mass vaccination effort, both in the short and long-term, to ensure that we
have the structural resilience in place to tackle Covid-19 and future health
emergencies.
The
event also shared emerging best practice on efforts to counter disinformation
and vaccine hesitancy, factors which risk prolonging the crisis by inhibiting
people taking up Covid-19 vaccines. Participants agreed transparency, openness
and proactive and positive communications were key to overcome vaccine
hesitancy and combat disinformation.
This UK-Argentina seminar is the third
in a series of joint events with the region. Foreign, Commonwealth and
Development Minister Wendy Morton, representing the UK, said:
“I
am delighted that the UK is hosting this event with Argentina, a key partner in
the global and regional response to Covid-19 playing a vital role in vaccines
development and manufacturing in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The
UK is committed to ensuring a truly global response to Covid-19, both through
events like today’s and through our investment in the world’s multilateral
response, including the COVAX Facility. We are proud backers of COVAX as the
best mechanism to deliver a truly global response to the pandemic and to
realise our goal of equitable access to safe and effective vaccines for all.”
Argentina’s
Health Minister, Ginés González García said:
“The COVID-19
pandemic is more than a health crisis, it is a human crisis that has revealed,
as never before, the vulnerabilities of health systems around the world.
However, it provides a unique opportunity to rethink more equitable, inclusive
and sustainable societies”.
The UK has pledged up to £548m to the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment, which supports access
to vaccines for lower and middle-income countries. This is in addition to the
UK’s commitment to COVAX as a self-funding nation.