MULTILATERAL COOPERATION IN URGENT NEED
The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to assess the global risk level of COVID-19 as "very high," the WHO's Emergency Committee warned in a statement on Aug. 1, highlighting "the anticipated lengthy duration" of the pandemic.
While noting the importance of sustained community, national, regional, and global response efforts, it called on countries to "reduce the risk of response fatigue in the context of socio-economic pressures," and coordinate and accelerate research into the remaining "critical unknowns," considering the development of COVID-19 treatment and vaccines.
Countries around the world should "share best practices" with the WHO, "apply lessons learned from countries that are successfully re-opening their societies," as well as "support multilateral regional and global organizations and encourage global solidarity in COVID-19 response," it said.
And such a call for closer cooperation and stronger solidarity, especially in the realm of vaccine research and development, has been echoed by experts worldwide.
"I think for pandemics, it is very important to practice what I call internationalism," said Lam Sai Kit, an emeritus professor at the University of Malaya and a prominent infectious disease expert. "There is no border. People work across borders and help each other to prevent the spread from one country to another."
"We focus too much on the differences between countries. We need to work together because there is no difference to the virus' impact around the world," said Bruce Lee, professor of health policy and management at the City University of New York.
Clayton Dube, director of the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California, called for an urgent need for "better communication between countries, scientists and disciplines."
According to data released by the WHO earlier in July, at least 24 COVID-19 candidate vaccines are in clinical evaluation globally, with another 142 in preclinical evaluation.
"I'm particularly glad that there's so much movement towards developing a vaccine against COVID-19," Lam said, though expressing concern over whether the vast population could have access.
"As you can see, some of the developed countries who can afford it are already cornering the market by buying up vaccines or ordering vaccines ahead of time," Lam told Xinhua.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also emphasized last week that COVID-19 vaccines and treatment, if found, should be accessible to all countries, and no country should be left behind.
"As we collectively strive to overcome this pandemic, we must share experiences and expertise," he said.
(Xinhua reporters Dong Yue in Beijing, Lin Hao and Jonathan Edward in Kuala Lumpur, Julia Pierrepont and Huang Heng in Los Angeles, and Ndumiso Mlilo in Johannesburg also contributed to the story.)
