British embassy in Amman holds virtual session on global vaccine summit

AMMAN — On the same day that the UK-hosted Global Vaccine Summit raised $8.8 billion in pledges to help Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the British embassy in Jordan held an online event on their official Twitter account hosted by British Ambassador to Jordan Edward Oakden to discuss and answer questions about the summit.

According to a statement provided by the British government, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has “helped vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases”.

Since its inception in 2000, the public-private alliance has “helped to immunise over 760 million children and has prevented more than 13 million deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 developing countries”.

This year, during the Global Vaccine Summit, which was held on Thursday and hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, world leaders pledged $8.8 billion for Gavi, far exceeding the target of $7.4 billion.

Oakden said during the live event that he is “glad to see the UK host something that is not only related to the COVID-19 crisis but can also go much further than that”.

"From experience, I have found that one defining feature of dealing with crises is to think of dealing with the secondary effects of them as well. So although the COVID-19 crisis requires a lot of attention, it would be unfortunate to see a rise in death from another preventable communicable disease such as typhoid,” he said.

The funding raised this year will help immunise 300 million children in lower-income countries against diseases like measles, polio and diphtheria by the end of 2025, according to a statement from the British government.

“The funding will also support health systems to withstand the impact of the coronavirus and maintain the infrastructure necessary to roll out a future COVID-19 vaccine on a global scale,” the statement said.

The ambassador noted that, although Gavi targets the 68 poorest countries in the world, among which Jordan is not included, the UK “appreciates Jordan’s efforts in working with the alliance and its help in distributing the vaccines to Syrian refugees”.

The ambassador linked the summit to the current urgent need to develop a vaccine against the COVID-19 virus, which “has swept the world in a dramatic fashion”.

“Until we have an effective vaccine, it will be very hard to make a decisive end to the crisis,” he added.

The idea of a vaccine being “globally accessible” comprises the need for it to be manufactured around the globe and distributed not only in countries with effective distribution systems, but more crucially, those without, Oakden said.