Vaccines must be recognised as a global public good
Following a video conference, the foreign ministers of six countries including Bangladesh, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal issued a joint statement on April 28 expressing their desire to work closely in various regional initiatives to defeat Covid-19. The six countries also declared that vaccines should be distributed in accordance with the principles of equity and justice, opposing the idea of vaccine nationalism. We are pleased with the direction these countries are willing to take. Every country in the world has suffered heavily due to the pandemic, and by now it is obvious that the only way to overcome the disease is through cooperation.
The recent explosion of Covid-19 cases and deaths in India is a prime example of how the disease can create chaos and misery throughout any country at any time, until it is defeated across the world completely. As long as other countries are suffering from the disease, there is always the risk that the virus can re-enter our borders—and more deadly mutations of the virus at that—and that holds true for every country. The fact that these six countries have recognised this is a good first step towards mutual cooperation that is so desperately needed at this hour.
China also said that it is willing to work on making the vaccine a global public good and carry out continued vaccine cooperation with the participating countries in a flexible manner. Following the export ban on vaccines by India, Bangladesh suffered a lot of uncertainty, and the Bangladesh government has already decided to import the vaccine developed by China to cover the shortage. To ensure that the vaccine reaches people quickly, it may be prudent for the government to work with the Chinese to develop the vaccine locally for faster production and distribution.
We hope that other countries around the world will also quickly recognise the importance of mutual cooperation to overcome this pandemic once and for all. To that end, recognising the vaccine as a global public good would be a massive step in the right direction.
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