Fighting against the Covid-19 crisis
Respond to Covid-19 and prepare for future pandemics
The pandemic has precipitated a sudden awareness of our common vulnerability and interdependence. But where more cooperation is necessary to save lives and cool the planet, we have seen the opposite: global retrenchment, vaccine nationalism and too little cooperation. The results are evident: more than 60% of the population is vaccinated in the EU and the US, while less than 2% vaccinated in low income countries, new Covid variants are appearing, and havoc is being wreaked on all fronts of global cooperation, including those vital for our future like climate.
This must change. There is nothing inevitable about governments focused on narrow tradeoffs and not wanting to see the larger price of non-coordination, as there is nothing inevitable about IOs paralyzed by non-cooperative governments.
The Paris Peace Forum has joined with many organizations in a global effort to reach the goal of vaccinating 70% of the population in every country by this time next year or sooner — and 40% by the end of this year. This is not an easy target, it will require dramatically ramping up dose donations, manufacturing, and delivery. It will require more deployment of testing, treatments, oxygen, and PPE for the most vulnerable.
But ending this pandemic is long overdue. It’s no time to rest, it’s an illusion to think that this pandemic will go away without continuing efforts.
The Paris Peace Forum's president Pascal Lamy, along with Carolyn Reynolds (Pandemic Action Network), Gary Edson (Covid Collaborative), and Mark McClellan (Duke University), has called for a six point plan for Biden’s Covid summit. The Framework for a Global Action Plan for Covid-19 Response further details additional targets and goals towards which all efforts must be focused.
Having worked closely with and supported the launch of the Multilateral Leaders Task Force (co-led by the IMF, the World Bank, the WHO, and the WTO), the Forum will continue to put all its efforts in accelerating a coordinated global response among all the global, regional, and national leaders of its community.
Recent Paris Peace Forum actions
- Leaders convene to share plans and targets for putting the Covid-19 crisis behind us
- Helping bridge the North-South divide on critical challenges: vaccines, debt, climate
- Five priorities for universal Covid-19 vaccination
- Gates Foundation announces new funds to develop Covid-19 vaccines and increase access to affordable vaccines in low-income countries