ROME – Joint commitment of the G20 Finance and Health Ministers to vaccinate at least 40% of the world population by the end of this year and to reach 70% by the first half of next year. The G20 therefore adopts the recommendation of the World Health Organization and in the final communiqué, assures the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza, “there are no figures because putting a ceiling on spending would have meant limiting our action. There is a commitment by everyone. the G20 countries to intervene with economic support, even very strong, reaffirmed today by the finance ministers, who are the ones who hold the cash. The goal of reaching 70% vaccination coverage globally will be achieved thanks to a large investment from part of the strongest countries “.
From the G20 Finance and Health, which was held today at the Salone delle Fontane dell’Eur, in Rome, with the joint presidency of the ministers Daniele Franco and Roberto Speranza, the establishment of “a Finance-Health task force to promote global dialogue and cooperation on the problems of pandemic preparedness and response “, reads the final communiqué. “To ensure inclusion, representation and geographic coverage, the task force will consider the inclusion of additional members not represented in the G20, regional institutions and international institutions,” the document continues. The Task Force will have a dual presidency, Italian and Indonesian (Indonesia will have the next presidency of the G20, immediately after Italy).
A serious commitment, with respect to which, however, the director general of the World Health Organization declares himself partly skeptical: “I’m not saying it’s impossible – says Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the exit from the meeting – but in September the world percentage of vaccinated people did not not even reached the global target of 10%. There was a commitment to donate a billion doses to the poorest countries and only 15% has arrived. I am not saying that the 40% target by the end of this’ year is unattainable, if you really want to reach a goal, the means are there. “
The distances between vaccines carried out in rich and poor countries are still very large, recalls the director general of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in his speech for the delivery of an honorary degree in politics by the Luiss Guido Carli university: “Just 5% of people in Africa and less than 2% of people in low-income countries are fully vaccinated, compared to over 63% in developed countries and 55% in upper-middle-income countries “. Among other things, adds Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, “Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine is based on components from 19 countries, as does Moderna’s. AstraZeneca’s supply chains span at least 15 countries and Johnson & Johnson’s 12. “.
If Minister Speranza did not want to give estimates on what the economic commitment will be to achieve the G20 goal, the operational director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, did instead: “We need others 20 billion dollars to accelerate vaccinations towards the goal of reaching 40% of the population by this year and 70% by the middle of next year. We must do this for the health of the people and the world economy. $ 3 billion more to spend in 2025 if we spend this $ 20 billion now. ” “We need to accelerate the post-Covid recovery and be ready for the next time. We are motivated and committed to doing it for our people and our economies. We are committed to strong support for the countries that need it,” added Georgieva.
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