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The Group of 20 (G20) summit hosted by Saudi Arabia concluded on Sunday (November 22). Leaders of several countries issued a statement after the online meeting stating that they will “spare no effort” to ensure that everyone in the world can “obtain affordably and fairly” the diagnosis and vaccination of the novel coronavirus.
However, the statement did not specify the amount of new funds expected to contribute to achieve this goal.
US President Trump attended some of the meetings, emphasizing different views of his allies. Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his willingness to strengthen cooperation with other countries on the issue of vaccines and proposed using an international “health code” to guarantee access, which generated controversy.
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Fair vaccine distribution is not specific enough
While many countries still suffer from the health and economic problems caused by the new corona virus, this summit was held primarily around how to solve these problems, including discussion on how to ensure that the new corona vaccine is distribute at an affordable price in the poorest countries.
The leaders of the G20 Group expressed their full support for cooperation in the purchase and distribution of vaccines. They stated in the statement: “We have mobilized resources to address the current financing needs of the global health sector to support research, development, production and distribution of safe and effective vaccines, treatments and diagnoses of new coronaviruses.”
The statement also said: “We will spare no effort to ensure that all people can pay and have fair access to these services, which is consistent with the commitment of all members to foster innovation.”
However, the outside world criticized these statements for being too broad and lacking specific solutions.
So far, countries have invested US $ 10 billion in the Global Vaccination Program (Covax) of the World Health Organization. This plan aims to ensure that vaccines are not patented by the richest countries. The European Union declared that it still needs to cover the funding gap of $ 4.5 billion this year.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that progress on equitable vaccine distribution is still slow. Some rich countries have reached agreements with pharmaceutical companies, but there are still no agreements for poor countries. He is concerned that “no action has yet been taken.” .
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Trump and his allies disagree
The outside world was concerned whether US President Trump, who refused to admit defeat, will attend this G20 summit. Trump eventually attended part of the meeting. According to US media reports, he ran to play golf on other occasions.
Trump said in a video conference Saturday that American citizens will be the first to receive a vaccine against the new coronavirus. This is in line with its consistent “America First” policy, but is different from the priority given to frontline medical personnel and vulnerable groups that many medical experts and leaders from other countries have called for.
Trump announced his retirement from the World Health Organization (WTO) in July this year and threatened to cut off the organization’s largest source of funding. This move contradicts the support of the organization by the allies of the United States.
G20 leaders stated in the statement that they support strengthening the “overall efficiency of the WTO in coordinating and supporting the global response to the epidemic and the core efforts of member states.”
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In mainland China, from the community where they live to the company building where they work, many places require people to show a green code that represents health before being allowed in and out.
Xi Jinping’s mention of the international “health code” causes controversy
Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed in a video speech that he is willing to strengthen cooperation with other countries in vaccine research, development, production and distribution.
Xi Jinping said, “We will honor our commitments to provide aid and support to other developing countries, and we will strive to make vaccines a public product that is accessible and affordable for people in all countries.”
In fact, China is distributing its own vaccines. Authorities announced last week that nearly 1 million people had been vaccinated with a vaccine produced by China National Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. However, external warnings have not been able to confirm the efficacy and safety of the vaccine developed by this company. .
Xi Jinping also emphasized at the summit that the global industrial chain and supply chain must be restored under the premise of preventing and controlling the epidemic. He proposed using the internationally recognized “health code” mechanism to carry out personnel exchanges and movement of goods.
Xi Jinping said, “China proposes to establish an international mutual recognition mechanism for health codes based on the results of nucleic acid tests in the form of internationally accepted QR codes, and hopes that more countries will participate.”
The “health code” is a type of QR code on a mobile phone that can be scanned to obtain recent information about the person’s health and travel to ensure travel is allowed without the virus. During the epidemic, this technology was widely used in mainland China and played an important role in controlling the epidemic.
However, outsiders have widely questioned whether the “health code” could violate human rights and personal privacy. Hong Kong, which is separated by a river from mainland China and has implemented the “one country, two systems” policy, has yet to establish a “health code” mechanism with mainland China after months of discussions.
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Climate change problems
The summit also discussed the issue of climate change. Leaders who participated in the online summit emphasized that developing a circular carbon economy to manage emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change is very important to achieve sustainable development in the future.
Xi Jinping said at the meeting that the G20 should play a leadership role and do everything possible to promote the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change. He reiterated that China will meet its commitments, including carbon emissions that will peak in 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060.
Xi Jinping emphasized three aspects: increasing efforts to address climate change, deepening the transition to clean energy, building an ecosystem that respects nature.
Trump, who also attended the video conference, once again lashed out at the “Paris Agreement,” describing the agreement as an attempt to bring down the US economy rather than save the planet. He reiterated that the decision to withdraw from this agreement was to protect American workers.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga made a comment on the sidelines of the summit, saying that Japan will lead international efforts to address climate change.
Yoshihide Suga said: “Addressing climate change will not limit economic growth. We will lead the international community to achieve a carbon-free world.” Japan’s goal is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, which is one of Yoshihide Suga’s cabinet’s top political priorities. .
