Moon offers cooperation on global vaccine development effort
President Moon Jae-in delivers a keynote speech to the World Health Assembly through teleconference, at Cheong Wa Dae, Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae
By Kang Seung-woo
President Moon Jae-in proposed Monday that the international community cooperate beyond borders to develop vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 and other pandemics that may emerge in the future.
“The Republic of Korea fully supports the efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop vaccines and treatments,” Moon said in a keynote speech to the World Health Assembly, delivered via videoconference.
“Furthermore, such vaccines and treatments are public goods that must be distributed equitably to the whole world.”
His speech came as Korea has gained international recognition for its successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to the nation's achievement, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus proposed, during an April 6 phone conversation, that Moon deliver the keynote speech, hoping it could serve as a good opportunity to share Korea's experience on dealing with the pandemic.
Moon said Korea would be committed to developing coronavirus vaccines.
“The Republic of Korea is also working with GAVI, the Global Fund, Unitaid and the International Vaccine Institute as a donor country, and this year we will begin contributing to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations,” he said. GAVI is an international organization working to immunize children against infectious diseases, while Unitaid helps create transformative solutions to address global pandemics.
Alongside vaccine development, the President said the international community needs to expand its humanitarian assistance for countries with vulnerable healthcare systems and share its quarantine experiences.
“Until the day everyone is free from COVID-19, we must work together and leave no one behind,” he said.
Moon also suggested updating the WHO International Health Regulations and other relevant norms and augmenting them with binding legal force.
“A novel infectious disease could emerge at any time, and we must be able to respond more quickly and effectively,” he said.
“Infection-related data should be shared among countries in a more transparent manner, and an early warning system and a cooperation mechanism must be jointly established. At the G20 and ASEAN+3 Summits, various measures for cooperation were proposed, and I hope they will be made more concrete.”
Meanwhile, Moon attributed the nation's COVID-19 success to the people displaying the highest form of civic virtue and voluntarily participating in quarantine efforts.
“This was what really enabled the three main principles of openness, transparency and democracy to flourish. The government also supported the people's efforts with swift, widespread testing and creative approaches,” he added.