United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday urged the leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) to fully support the ACT-Accelerator, or the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator.
"The recent breakthroughs on COVID-19 vaccines offer a ray of hope. But that ray of hope needs to reach everyone. That means ensuring that vaccines are treated as a global public good - a people's vaccine accessible and affordable to everyone, everywhere," the UN chief told reporters at a hybrid press conference held at the UN headquarters in New York.
"Solidarity is survival," the UN chief noted.
"The ACT-Accelerator and its COVAX Facility are the vehicles to get us there," Guterres added.
"Over the past seven months, countries have invested 10 billion U.S. dollars in the effort to develop vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. But 28 billion dollars more is needed - including 4.2 billion dollars before the end of the year," the UN chief elaborated.
Noting that the funding is critical for mass manufacturing, procurement and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and tools around the world, the secretary-general said that "G20 countries have the resources."
"I am urging all of them to fully support the ACT-Accelerator," he added.
On a pessimistic note, the UN chief said that "unfortunately, there is no vaccine for misinformation."
"Vaccine myths and wild conspiracies continue to spread on social media," he continued.
"All of these efforts are vital to save lives and provide an exit strategy out of this global economic and human crisis," said the top UN official.
