STATEMENT BY
H.E. KHAIRY JAMALUDDIN,
MINISTER OF HEALTH MALAYSIA
FOR THE HIGH-LEVEL THEMATIC DEBATE ON
“GALVANIZING MOMENTUM FOR UNIVERSAL VACCINATION”
NEW YORK, 25 FEBRUARY 2022
His Excellency Abdulla Shahid,
President of the United Nations General Assembly
Distinguished delegations from the Members States and Observers,
Ladies & Gentlemen,
1. It gives me a great pleasure to join you from Malaysia for this 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Galvanising Momentum for Universal Vaccination.
2. Let me start by speaking a cold, hard truth. COVID-19 vaccine inequity has been the single, greatest moral failing of humanity during the pandemic. We are in the third year of the pandemic and we now have tools to bring the pandemic under control, yet as of today, 72 percent of shots that have gone into arms worldwide have been administered in high and upper-middle-income countries. Only 1 percent of doses have been administered in low-income countries.
3. The international community needs to ask ourselves, where did we go wrong? We developed effective and safe vaccines in record time. Our scientists raced to deliver life-saving vaccines that would normally take years in mere months. And now there is enough production capacity to ensure many more people can be vaccinated. And yet they are not.
4. When vast numbers of humanity are still not vaccinated, they are still at high risk of suffering from the worst outcomes of COVID-19. Not only that, as we have learnt from Omicron, there is a high likelihood of new variants emerging from unvaccinated people that will have serious consequences in all countries.
5. Our failure is not for the lack of intent or planning. We have set up COVAX to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines. Yet, COVAX has been unable to deliver its target. The failure is selfishness, plain and simple. The truth is certain countries bought more vaccines than they required. They hoarded the vaccines. Some even had to dispose vaccine stocks which expired as the rest of the world without access to vaccines looked on incredulously. Yes, some of these countries subsequently donated vaccine doses, but this was after they sat on vaccine stocks for months while many poorer countries were left vulnerable.
6. Malaysia reiterates the call by the World Health Organisation for vaccine equity, now. To those countries that have the means, contribute vaccines to countries that are still struggling to immunize their citizens. Assist these countries not only with vaccines, but also to strengthen their delivery capacity to immunize as many of their citizens, as quickly as possible. Malaysia also recently donated vaccines to Bangladesh and Laos to support their vaccination programmes.
7. Beyond this, we need to also push for intellectual property waivers for life-saving vaccines and treatments during pandemics. We need to increase the capacity of many more countries to manufacture vaccines and treatments so they will not be left at the mercy of disadvantageous delivery schedules of pharmaceutical companies.
8. As we try to emerge out of this pandemic, Malaysia would also like to remind certain countries that borders our now opening. The behaviour of people in different countries will have an effect on others. Too many countries who hoarded vaccines, please practice better public health measures. It should not be that difficult for you to keeps your masks on.
9. Most of all, we need to learn from humanity’s failing in responding to COVID-19 to ensure when the next pandemic hits us, we respond as a global community rather than every country for themselves.
10. This is the year for us to fix our collective failure. Because no one is safe until everyone is safe.
Thank you.