Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called to declare the Covid-19 vaccines as 'global public good' with a view to strengthening response to the pandemic.She made the call in her prerecorded speech for the 'White House Global Covid-19 Summit: Ending the Pandemic and Building Back Better Health Security to prepare For the Next'. US President Joe Biden convened the Summit.
Sheikh Hasina said, "For effective global vaccination, Covid-19 vaccines need to be declared as 'global public good'. To guarantee universal access, local production of vaccines by the developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) that have the capacity must be allowed."
"As of September 14, over 35 million shots of the vaccine have been administered. We are planning to vaccinate 20 million people per month until 80 percent of our population is vaccinated by August 2022," she said. Hasina also highlighted Bangladesh's 'three-pronged approach' to fight the pandemic.
Those are: Saving lives by allocating adequate medical facilities, equipment, life-saving drugs and resources; Supporting the livelihoods of citizens, especially the most vulnerable groups; and Recovering economic activities back on track as quickly as possible. US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Angela Markel, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indonesian President Zoko Widodo, African President Cyril Ramaphosa and UN Secretary General António Guterres, among others, spoke on the occasion.
---New York
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