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G20: Equal Access to Vaccines is Key to Overcoming Pandemic

G20: Equal Access to Vaccines is Key to Overcoming Pandemic
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G20: Equal Access to Vaccines is Key to Overcoming Pandemic

G20: Equal Access to Vaccines is Key to Overcoming Pandemic

Equitable and affordable access to vaccines for all is key to overcoming the coronavirus pandemic and supporting the global economic recovery, the G20 Finance and Health ministers said on Thursday.

"We will continue to use all available policy tools to safeguard people's lives, jobs and incomes, support the global economic recovery, and enhance the resilience of health and financial systems, while safeguarding against downside risks," the ministers said in a statement following a joint meeting under the Saudi G20 leadership.

They pledged to “work together to lay the foundation for targeted actions to help respond to the most immediate challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that the world is better prepared to curb the impact of future health-related crises in line with One Health Approach.”

Furthermore, they said they “will integrate the economic risks of pandemics, drug resistant infectious diseases, noncommunicable diseases and high-impact tail risks more systematically into the G20’s global risk monitoring and preparedness.”

The statement added that an action plan will be presented at the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in October and to the G20 leaders' summit in November.

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World Leaders Descend on Azerbaijan’s Capital Baku for United Nations Climate Talks

Leaders arrive for a group photo at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP)
Leaders arrive for a group photo at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP)
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World Leaders Descend on Azerbaijan’s Capital Baku for United Nations Climate Talks

Leaders arrive for a group photo at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP)
Leaders arrive for a group photo at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP)

World leaders are converging Tuesday at the United Nations annual climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan although the big names and powerful countries are noticeably absent, unlike past climate talks which had the star power of a soccer World Cup.

But 2024's climate talks are more like the World Chess Federation finals, lacking the recognizable names but big on nerd power and strategy. The top leaders of the 13 largest carbon dioxide-polluting countries will not appear with their countries responsible for more than 70% of 2023's heat-trapping gases.

Biggest polluters and strongest economies China and the United States aren't sending their No. 1s. The four most populous nations with more than 42% of all the world's population aren't having leaders speak.

“It’s symptomatic of the lack of political will to act. There’s no sense of urgency,” said climate scientist Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics. He said this explains “the absolute mess we’re finding ourselves in.”

On Tuesday, Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev, United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are the headliners of among the nearly 50 leaders set to speak.

But there'll be a strong showing expected from the leaders of some of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries. Several small island nations presidents and over a dozen leaders from countries across Africa are set to speak over the two-day World Leaders’ Summit at the COP29 conference.