UAE Holds Virtual Coronavirus Immunization Summit

HOPE Consortium’s World Immunization and Logistics Summit kicked off Monday in Abu Dhabi to explore a unified global approach to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

The two-day virtual summit is held under the auspices of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and attended by various global figures and companies in the field of healthcare and charity work, as well as decision-makers, experts and senior officials in the public and private sectors.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan called for enhancing collaboration in the world’s approach to face the pandemic and ensure a healthier future for all.

The international community has become aware that concerted efforts and cooperation lead to prosperity, he noted.

“Our destiny as nations is linked, as global health security depends on the well-being of all societies,” he stated in his inaugural speech.

The Hope Consortium is a historic announcement that has promoted the UAE’s efforts to address the coronavirus at the global level, Sheikh Abdullah said, adding that it is considered a logistics hub that has played a major role in supplying many countries with the resources needed to overcome the pandemic.

“We are moving quickly, utilizing our infrastructure and logistics capabilities and the geographic proximity with Africa, Asia and Europe, to offer medical and food aid to many countries.”

“Our HOPE Consortium has gathered expertise to secure more vaccines for all world countries,” he stressed.

“The faster we can vaccinate populations, while ensuring equitable and fair access to vaccines in a cost effective manner, the faster we can overcome the virus and begin to recover globally.”

Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, for his part, said: “Vaccines are giving us hope of bringing the pandemic under control.”

“But we can only do that if we use vaccines strategically to suppress transmission everywhere at the same time,” he added.

Ghebreyesus also warned that the gap between the number of vaccines administered in rich countries and the number of vaccines administered through COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) is growing every single day.

“WHO applauds the efforts of the Hope Consortium initiative led by the UAE government and looks forward to working with you to frame a partnership in support of the Covax facility.”

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development Mohamed al-Hammadi highlighted the importance of building partnerships to mobilize global resources in the fight against COVID-19.

“The Summit represents a critical moment for the global community to come together and develop new scalable solutions in our collective battle against the pandemic,” he said.

Now is the time to build a broad network of world-class partners to safely deliver vaccines for the region and beyond, Hammadi added.