U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday demanded a global vaccination plan, coordinated and funded by G20 governments, to counter what he called the “widely uneven and unfair” distribution of coronavirus vaccines.
Speaking before the U.N. Security Council in a virtual meeting, Guterres said the recent rollout of vaccines has given hope to the world but 10 countries account for 75 percent of all vaccines while more than 130 nations have yet to receive a single dose.
“At this critical moment, vaccine equity is the biggest moral test before the global community,” he said. “We must ensure that everybody, everywhere, can be vaccinated as soon as possible.
“The world urgently needs a global vaccination plan to bring together all those with the required power, scientific expertise and production and financial capacities.”
The G20 wealthy nations should establish an emergency task force to create, coordinate, implement and finance this plan, Guterres said, adding he was “ready to galvanize the full United Nations System in support of this effort.”
The coronavirus, which first emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, has infected more than 109 million people, including 2.4 million who died, according to a live map of the disease by Johns Hopkins University.
UPI contributed to this story