VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi emphasized the need for global partnerships to bolster the capacity of developing nations in order to bring the pandemic to an end.

Marsudi also stressed the importance of achieving the vaccination target of 40 percent of each country's population by the end of 2021 set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

She made this statement during a virtual USAID development ministerial meeting on COVID-19 initiated by the United States and led by USAID Administrator Samantha Power, held on Monday night (Dec 6).

“Currently, the global vaccination gap is still wide, with low-income countries receiving only 0.6 percent of all available vaccines. As many as 96 countries have not yet met the WHO target of vaccinating 40 percent of their population by the end of 2021 despite only a few weeks being left," Marsudi noted in a statement, Tuesday.

During the meeting, Marsudi highlighted two efforts to respond to the issue, specifically in the short term, related to equitable access to vaccines, and in the long term, building a stronger health resilience.

In the short term, the minister remarked that the main focus was how all countries can intensify cooperation to meet the WHO targets.

This can be achieved through accelerating global access to vaccines, including by sharing doses.

“The doses given must have a long expiry date, and there should be a clear distribution timeline. Not much information is available about the Omicron variant. The policies of countries in the future should not further complicate efforts to achieve vaccine equality," Marsudi stated.

Second, strengthening the absorption capacity in recipient countries on account of the fact that several nations do not have adequate resources and infrastructure to distribute vaccines to their population.

In this case, she shared Indonesia's experiences in distributing vaccines to all Indonesian islands.

Meanwhile, for the long term, Foreign Minister Marsudi emphasized the importance of strengthening the involvement of developing countries in the global vaccine supply chain.

This can be achieved by diversifying global vaccine manufacturing, establishing regional vaccine production and distribution centers, facilitating technology transfer, and increasing access to vaccine raw materials.

The USAID meeting on COVID-19 was attended by some 20 ministers and nine representatives of international organizations from various countries, including the Director General of WHO and CEO of GAVI, the President of the World Bank, and the Director General of UNICEF. (Antaranews)