KUALA LUMPUR – The biggest obstacle to ending this Covid-19 pandemic is vaccine inequity and misinformation, said Senior Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.
“We cannot afford to turn this into a pandemic for the unvaccinated,” said Hishammuddin at the first meeting of the International Forum on Covid-19 Vaccine Cooperation last night, during which he put forth three key points.
His speech at the online forum organised by China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry was made available to the media here in a statement issued by the Malaysian Foreign Ministry (Wisma Putra) tonight.
His first point is to increase global vaccine production by waiving intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines, with the underpinning principle that every country should have the right to manufacture its own vaccines during a pandemic.
The second is harmonising vaccine certifications, especially vaccines recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), to facilitate approvals for use by regulatory agencies.
“This will assist in facilitating travel, tourism and economic recovery in the near future, without having to deal with restrictions of specific vaccine recognitions,” he said.
His third key point is dispelling the “info-demic” and vaccine hesitancy arising from an overabundance of information and the rapid spread of misleading or fabricated news.
With new variants such as Delta, Delta Plus and Lambda spreading worldwide, he pointed out the race is now on to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible, the key being access to the vaccines.
“While Malaysia is fortunate in this regard, we must admit that not all countries have access to vaccines. The imbalance in vaccine supply and distribution worldwide must be urgently remedied.
“It is high time we put true meaning to vaccines being ‘global public goods’,” said Hishammuddin.
This is why today’s forum is timely and a step in the right direction, he said, adding that genuine international cooperation is the best bet, and Malaysia will fully support the joint declaration of today’s forum.
The forum, chaired by Wang Yi, China’s state councillor and foreign affairs minister, will issue a joint statement to demonstrate the unity and strong commitment of participating countries in combating the Covid-19 pandemic through international vaccine cooperation. – Bernama, August 5, 2021
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