Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.
Today’s briefing will start with an update from Dr Anders Nordstrom, head of the secretariat of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, to be followed by a question and answer period, as Tim said.
Dr Nordstrom will brief you on the Independent Panel’s fact-finding work on the impacts of the pandemic and its engagement with stakeholders.
The Panel’s next meeting will take place on the 16th and 17th of December, and will provide an update to the Executive Board in January.
After that, you will hear an update on vaccines and the COVAX Facility from Dr Kate O’Brien, the Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, along with WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan, and Dr Mariângela Simão, the Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products.
Last week, Dr Swaminathan and Dr O’Brien provided an update on results from several COVID-19 vaccines and on country readiness and delivery support.
Today we will continue that discussion, updating you on the regulatory approval of the vaccines, access to vaccines, and the COVAX Facility.
As you may know, yesterday the United Kingdom became the first country to approve a vaccine with demonstrated efficacy for COVID-19.
It is incredible to think that less than a year ago, we had not even heard of this virus, and now we have an approved vaccine against it.
WHO has an unwavering commitment to equitable, timely and fair access to all the tools that can serve to mitigate and end this pandemic, including vaccines.
There is a great deal of work to do in each country to make that a reality. In the beginning, of course, vaccine quantity will be limited, but will increase over the course of 2021.
This means that not all countries will receive doses at exactly the same time, but as supplies increase, countries will receive vaccines as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, we are working with countries to make sure that they are prepared to receive and deliver vaccines.
We are here, along with our partners, to do everything possible to ease the way.
I am so pleased to share that donors have answered the initial call for funding the Gavi COVAX Advanced Market Commitment target of two billion US dollars in 2020.
I would like to use this opportunity to thank you. Much gratitude.
We look forward to successfully funding the total requirements in 2021.
As always, there will be time for your questions. And we look forward to receiving your suggestions, inputs and guidance.
I thank you.