Foreign Minister: COVID-19 Is Not Over But The End Of The Pandemic Is In Front Of My Eyes

JAKARTA - Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi continues to encourage vaccine equality efforts and preparedness to face the pandemic in the future. He said that while chairing the COVAX Advance Market Commitment Engagement Group (AMC-EG) meeting.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet, but the end of the pandemic has been seen in sight," said Retno at the meeting, as stated in a written statement from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, quoted from Antara, Thursday, September 29.

To reach the end of the pandemic, Foreign Minister Retno conveyed a short-term solution, namely for COVAX AMC-EG to continue to address the vaccine gap, among others, by strengthening vaccination campaigns, especially in countries with low vaccination rates.

The long-term solution he told was the importance of changing the mindset of "emergency measures" to "ready prepared" to respond to future pandemics.

Retno also emphasized the importance of continuing to encourage global solidarity and ensuring equal access to medical solutions, especially for developing countries.

The current world needs a permanent mechanism that is able to strengthen the global health architecture. Therefore, the Indonesian Presidency at the G20 also secures medical solutions for developing countries through the Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF)," he said.

Given the vaccine distribution gap and vaccination achievements, co-chairs, namely the Minister of Health of Ethiopia and the Minister of International Development of Canada, supported the sustainability of COVAX's performance until 2023, in particular to encourage prevention, preparedness, and response to future pandemics.

The COVAX AMC-EG meeting also discussed the latest developments in the provision of vaccines for AMC member countries. About 76 percent of vaccine doses in low-income countries come from the COVAX scheme.

In addition, the meeting also agreed on the importance of adjusting the COVAX structure to the latest developments in the pandemic, including by increasing capacity for countries to be ready to face other potential pandemics.

"COVAX must continue to work with WHO to ensure that every country has the resources needed to strengthen its national health strategy," said Retno.

COVAX AMC is a mechanism for free distribution of vaccines to its member countries, namely 92 lower-middle-income countries and low-income. As a multilateral cooperation forum, COVAX has proven that multilateralism is working effectively.

To date, at least 1.72 billion doses of vaccine have been sent by COVAX through multilateral channels. A total of 79 countries have reached the vaccination target of 70 percent, including Indonesia.

Through COVAX, Indonesia has received 130,662,975 doses of COVID-19 vaccine for free.