‘Covid-19 vaccine should be available to the whole world’ 

In the midst of the ravages of the deadly novel Coronavirus (Covid-19), the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has advocated for availability to the whole world if a vaccine should be found.

President Akufo-Addo cements his advocacy on what he described as the fall together of the world as a result of the pandemic. Thus, he believed it was necessary the world rose again together.

“We’ve all gone down together. We should all rise together. If the answer to this pandemic lies in finding a vaccine, that vaccine should be made available to the whole world; rich and poor alike, developed and developing; all races and all beliefs,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo said this yesterday at this year’s United Nations’ General Assembly, which was held virtually.

In his address, President Akufo-Addo said the virus had taught the world that every nation was at risk, and that there was no special protection for the rich or a particular class.

It was for that reason he re-echoed that for as long as the virus existed, whatever medical solutions that might be found should be made available for all, in aid of the world’s common humanity.

Giving some financial statistics to stress how the pandemic had affected economies, President Akufo-Addo cited the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which reported that the Covid-19 had brought in its wake a significant reduction in the financing available to developing economies.

Again, the organisation had estimated that external private finance influence to developing economies could drop by US$700 billion in 2020, compared to 2019 levels, exceeding the immediate impact of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis by 60%.

According to President Akufo-Addo, the restructuring of the global financing architecture to enable access to fresh capital by developing nations, now more than ever, was of immediate necessity.

He explained that it was necessary if the gains chalked in transforming the economies were not to be eroded and the standards of living of the peoples not to be dangerously lowered.

If not for the restrictions necessitated by the pandemic, the UN, at this year’s General Assembly, would have celebrated its 75^th Anniversary.

However, in spite of the anticipated major gathering for the celebration, member states were forced to stay at home and implore technology to make their addresses to the Assembly.

Acknowledging that the 75^th Anniversary celebration was not the only celebration that had to change, President Akufo-Addo noted that the world had been turned upside down, and “we have all been forced to learn new ways of doing things.”

“For many people, the most difficult thing to deal with in these uncertain and unsettling times has been the silence forced on churches, mosques, temples and other places of worship. Singing in groups has become a dangerous activity, and the major item which is pre-occupying the attention of world leaders is how to send and keep our children in school safely.

“All the sacred economic rules by which we have been urged to conduct affairs in the past century have been thrown out, at least, for the moment. Indeed, all our best laid plans have turned out to be of no use when faced with the ravages of an unknown virus,” he remarked.

Narrowing it to Ghana, President Akufo-Addo told the General Assembly that Ghana had, however, chalked some successes in trying to defeat the virus.

This, he added, was achieved through resolute actions by his government, with the cooperation of the Ghanaian people and the grace of the Almighty.

“Mr President, the lessons are clear. We all fell together and looked into the abyss together. Even as we closed our borders and shut airports, the reality dawned on all of us that we had to rely on each other to be able to get out of the trouble we were in,” he asserted.

President Akufo-Addo also said the time had come for the adoption and endorsement of Africa’s common position on UN reforms, as set out in the Ezulwini Consensus, so they could create a modern UN fit for purpose in our time.

Speaking on the Mali political crisis, the ECOWAS Chair indicated that it was incumbent on the UN, and, indeed, all member states, to lend their support of the efforts being made by ECOWAS to restore normalcy to Mali and help us defeat the scourge of terrorism.

Commenting on the upcoming elections in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic, President Akufo-Addo said that in spite of the difficulties in conducting an election during a pandemic, he was able to state that all Ghanaians had agreed that they had to work together to ensure that the elections would be transparent, free, fair, safe and credible.

 

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