The Multilateral Leaders Task Force led by the heads of the IMF, World Bank, World Health Organization, and World Trade Organization convened to discuss accelerating global access to vaccines and finding ways to support an inclusive global recovery.

Key Points:

• Boost vaccine supply and access. Panelists noted the target of vaccinating at least 40 percent of the world population by end-2021 and 70 percent by mid-2022. Anderson highlighted the vaccination divide between advanced economies and low-income countries. Malpass highlighted the gap between vaccines donated by advanced economies and actual delivery, particularly in Africa. Ghebreyesu stressed that booster shots in advanced economies at this stage is unfair to low-income countries.
• Ramp up production capacity and financing. Georgieva pointed to the large financing needs to achieve the global vaccination targets, and the contribution from the IMF, including the SDR allocation. Okonjo-Iweala stressed the need to improve local production capacity and self-reliance in African countries. Panelists called for disclosure of contracts and transparency in vaccine delivery.
• Need for collaboration. Panelists called for solidarity in delivering vaccines. Okonjo-Iweala highlighted the need to share intellectual property and transfer technology for manufacturing vaccines. Tedros noted the importance of providing incentives to the private sector.
• Prepare for the next crisis. Okonjo-Iweala highlighted gaps in globally networked surveillance and health research, reliance on national health systems, adequate supply and access of medical suppliers and global governance. Tedros stressed the need to learn from this pandemic, document lessons and implement recommendations. Georgieva called for building institutional capacity to improve resilience for future crises.

Quotes:

“If the world is to build strength and capacity to face health risks in the future, now is the time to approach this in a comprehensive manner.”  Kristalina Georgieva

“We need to make sure that technology is transferred so developing countries can manufacture [vaccines].” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

“The key is to have the finance ministers and health ministers seek contracts and try to get delivery dates earlier.” David Malpass

“We have seen many challenges that could have been addressed if we had a legal framework or agreement that could guide us—a pandemic treaty or pandemic agreement.” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu