ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan called on the global community on Tuesday, particularly developed nations, to ramp up coronavirus vaccine production and ensure its rapid distribution around the world.

The PM was addressing the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2021.

“The world must ramp up vaccine production, including in the developing countries, and ensure its rapid distribution,” Khan said. “While the support offered by some major nations is commendable, more needs to be done.”

The prime minister outlined the following as items of “vital urgency“: The waiver of intellectual property rights, even if temporary; vaccine production under license; full funding of the COVAX facility for vaccine distribution to poor nations; and provision of grants and concessional lending to enable developing countries to purchase vaccines at fair prices.

“The world is facing an unprecedented triple challenge: the COVID-19 pandemic; the reversal of economic progress; and the existential threat posed by climate change,” Khan said, commending the “excellent role” played by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and “the entire UN system’s relief and recovery efforts in the wake of the pandemic.”

Speaking of Pakistan’s efforts to fight COVID-19, the prime minister said that the country has been “more fortunate than other countries.”

“Through our policies of ‘smart lockdowns’ and focus on the disadvantaged, we have been able to somehow contain the virus. We managed to save precious lives and at the same time livelihoods,” Khan said.

PM Imran Khan appreciated the international recognition of Pakistan’s pandemic containment strategy and the Ehsaas social protection program.

“We are now making all possible efforts to accelerate our vaccination campaign,” he said.

The premier said that unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic had “revealed and accentuated the endemic inequalities which exist within and among nations,” saying global finance needed to be mobilized to enable developing countries to meet the challenge of COVID recovery.

Khan said high-income countries had been able to inject $17 trillion to stimulate their economies, but other nations were still struggling.

“The developing countries [...] are estimated to need at least $4.3 trillion to recover from the crises and implement the SDGs [sustainable development goals]. They have so far, unfortunately, secured access to less than 5 percent of this amount.”