Statement by Achim Steiner - 103rd Meeting of the Development Committee - April 9, 2021 - Health: A race to avoid vaccine nationalism

Jul 19, 2026

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Statement by Achim Steiner at the 103rd Development Committee meeting addresses the need for a recovery that advances the 2030 Agenda and fulfills the Paris Agreement, framed by lessons from recurring debt crises. It evaluates COVID-19’s human toll and highlights scientific progress enabled by global collaboration, including rapid vaccine development and rollouts. The statement argues that vaccine nationalism and inequitable access undermine both health containment and socio-economic recovery, citing global figures and UN multilateral mechanisms such as COVAX, ACT-Accelerator, and C-TAP.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

UN-led recovery and debt context

COVID-19 impacts and scientific advances

Vaccine access, COVAX and global solidarity

Vaccine nationalism risks and socio-economic costs

UN priorities for equitable vaccination

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors ofthe Bank and the Fund on the Transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries) ONE HUNDRED AND THIRD MEETING WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 9, 2021 (VIRTUAL) DC/S/2021-0023 April 9, 2021 Statement by Achim Steiner Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme United Nations U N I T E D N A T I O N S N A T I O N S U N I E S Statement by Achim Steiner Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme United Nations 103rd Meeting of the Development Committee April 9, 2021 Washington, DC (VIRTUAL) “We need to help Governments to invest in a strong recovery that puts us back on track to achieve the 2030 Agenda and fulfil the Paris Agreement. There have been three previous waves of debt accumulation over the past 50 years. Each ended with a debt crisis. The current wave, the fourth, has to be different.”1 UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres Health: A race to avoid vaccine nationalism A year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world takes stock of the devastating impacts ofthe worst global public health crisis of the last century with 128.5 million confirmed cases and 2.8 million deaths worldwide.2 National health and care systems have been pushed to their limits, while inequalities in access to health services have compounded the impacts of the pandemic on already vulnerable and marginalized communities. At the same time, the world can also look back at a year of unprecedented scientific advances spurred by global collaboration between the scientific community, governments, multilateral organizations and the private sector. These partnerships have paved the way for the development of multiple vaccines in record breaking time, offering hope to people across the world and allowing governments to plan paths towards reopening of societies and economies and eventual full recovery. To date, over 164 countries have initiated vaccine roll outs and 547.7 million vaccine doses have been administered worldwide.3 The UN has from the onset of the crisis called for global solidarity and worked to place multilateral cooperation at the core of the health response to COVID-19, particularly through collaborative vaccine development and equitable scale up, distribution and access. The COVAX Facility, ACT-Accelerator, and the COVID-19 technology access pool (C-TAP) have been at the center of these efforts. As of 1 April, COVAX had confirmed supplies of 3.56 billion doses of vaccines and shipped more than 33 million vaccine doses to 74 countries, while 21.1 million doses had been donated between countries.4 1 Source: [https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sgsm20660.doc.htm](https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sgsm20660.doc.htm) 2 As reported by WHO on 31 March: [https://covid19.who.int](https://covid19.who.int) 3 As reported by WHO on 1 April: [https://covid19.who.int](https://covid19.who.int) 4 As reported on the UNICEF Vaccine Market Dashboard on 1 April: COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard | UNICEF Supply Division In an effort to further guarantee that all high risk groups have access to vaccines, a COVAX Humanitarian Buffer has been created allocating five per cent of the total number of available vaccine doses procured through COVAX to high-risk groups in humanitarian settings as a measure of last resort when national vaccination programmes are unable to cover vulnerable groups in these contexts.5 However, despite best efforts and results achieved through COVAX, the inequity in vaccine distribution continues to grow spurred by a rise of vaccine nationalism. WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned against the false sense of security from vaccine nationalism.6 While some countries are racing to vaccinate their entire populations, including low risk groups, many middle-and lowincome countries still have not b

FAQs

Why does the statement emphasize helping governments invest in a strong recovery?

It links recovery planning to achieving the 2030 Agenda and fulfilling the Paris Agreement, arguing that past cycles of debt accumulation ended in crises and the current wave must be different.

How does the statement describe progress on COVID-19 vaccines over the first year?

It highlights unprecedented scientific advances driven by global collaboration, noting that many countries have initiated vaccine rollouts and that hundreds of millions of doses have been administered worldwide.

What problem is identified as threatening vaccine access and pandemic response?

The statement identifies growing inequity fueled by vaccine nationalism, warning that it leaves many middle- and low-income countries unable to start rollouts while increasing the risk to containment and recovery.

Jul 19, 2026

Upload by Miles