Foreign Minister Encourages Global Vaccine Equality at COVAX AMC EG Meeting

By Office of Assistant to Deputy Cabinet Secretary for State Documents & Translation     Date 9 Juni 2022
Category: News
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Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno L.P. Marsudi at COVAX AMC EG meeting, held virtually Wednesday (06/08). (Photo by: Ministry of Foreign Affairs PR)

Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno L.P. Marsudi Wednesday (08/06) together with the Canadian Minister of International Development and the Ethiopian Minister of Health once again chaired the COVAX Advance Market Commitment Engagement Group (AMC EG) meeting that was held virtually.

“The vaccination gap still exists. Many high-risk people in low-income countries have not yet vaccinated,” Retno said at the event.

According to the Minister, the current supply of vaccines is sufficient to meet global vaccination needs. She also highlighted President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s statement at the COVAX AMC Summit last April on the importance of immediately pushing to turn vaccines into vaccinations.

Retno also underscored that there is a need to renew global focus on two important things, namely to prioritize funding for vaccination efforts and integrating COVID-19 vaccination into other health interventions.

In addition, the Minister said that the COVAX has now become an inseparable part of the global health architecture. The existence of COVAX is significant since multi-stakeholder solidarity at the global level and equal access to health solutions must be consistently maintained, especially for developing countries.

“Those are the fundamental reason why COVAX must continue to exist after 2022 and after the pandemic,” Retno said.

For the record, COVAX AMC is a global mechanism that aims to distribute vaccines for free to its members, namely 92 middle and low income countries. Overall, COVAX has so far delivered 1.5 billion doses of vaccine to 144 countries, and 88 percent of them were delivered to 87 AMC countries.

Indonesia, as of April 3, 2022, has received 130.66 million doses of vaccines from the COVAX AMC mechanism and the bilateral dose-sharing scheme. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs PR/UN) (GWH/MMB)

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