President Joe Biden will convene a COVID-19 Summit during the UN General Assembly on September 22nd. The White House is asking world leaders, civil society, industry and philanthropists to make commitments to vaccinate the world, save lives and establish a health security financing mechanism.
“This meeting is about expanding and enhancing our shared efforts to defeat COVID-19, building out from previous gatherings of world leaders and ministers in fora like the G7, G20, and Act Accelerator to rally civil society, NGOs, philanthropists, and industry along with world leaders and align on a common vision for defeating COVID-19 together,” a statement by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
The Biden White House is focusing on four main themes:
- Vaccinate the World by enhancing equitable access to vaccines and getting shots in arms.
- Save Lives Now by solving the oxygen crisis, and making tests, therapeutics and PPE more available.
- Build Back Better by establishing a sustainable health security financing mechanism, and global leadership for emerging threats.
- Calling the World to Account by aligning around targets, tracking progress, and supporting one another in fulfilling our commitments.
“The summit shows how important it is for us to act quickly,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the Jubilee USA Network. “Biden knows that if we don’t move global vaccine distribution forward this year, we’ll lose more lives and our economy will suffer across the US and around the world.”
