OECS Authority 6th Special Meeting with WHO
OECS Release – The 6th Special meeting of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Authority was convened virtually on Friday, March 19, 2021, under the Chairmanship of Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica.
The meeting welcomed the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), H. E. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and his team.
In the main the meeting discussed, interlia; Update on ACT-A Facility and update on the COVAX facility; Safe and Sustainable Economic Recovery; Bridging the supply gap – OECS Seeking to bridge supply gap; procurement and Finance; Virus Variants, Vaccines and transmission, vaccine passports and quarantine.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Ghebreyesus commended the Heads of Governments of the OECS for their success in protecting people of the Eastern Caribbean in the fight against COVID-19, lauding the OECS as one of the best performing regions in the world for protecting its population. Notwithstanding the success on this front, Dr. Ghebreyesus acknowledged the devastating impact COVID-19 has had on the economies of Eastern Caribbean countries given the disruption to the critical tourism sector – the main revenue generating industry for most of the OECS Member States.
“Many Caribbean states have performed better than other countries in protecting their populations from COVID-19”, said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Dr Tedros continued: “but you have suffered economically, particularly those states with large tourism industries. Vaccines are a source of great hope to protect populations and to get economies back on their feet. One of our main priorities now is to increase the ambition of COVAX to help all countries end the pandemic. This means urgent action to ramp up production. Vaccine equity is not an act of charity, it’s in every country’s own best interests.”
In the spirit of friendship, Dr. Ghebreyesus revealed that in an effort to bridge the vaccine gap in the region, he has spoken to vaccine manufacturers specifically about the situation in the Caribbean.
Heads of the Governments of the OECS expressed their appreciation to Dr Ghebreyesus, and by extension the WHO, for maintaining constant communication with Small Island Developing States (SIDS), especially in the Caribbean and being an advocate for the region.
“On behalf of the Authority, I wish to express our pride and gratitude in the manner in which you have taken on the leadership of this important international organisation because your leadership in this time of crisis has been nothing short of exemplary and you have managed the challenges of the position fearlessly and without favour,” said Chairman of the OECS Authority Roosevelt Skerrit
The OECS Authority commended the WHO for the ACT Accelerator as a critical tool in the fight against COVID-19.
In the main; the OECS Authority presented the following considerations during the meeting to the WHO Director General and his team.
The OECS Authority highlighted the challenges that SIDS faced in terms of vaccine equity and lamented the fact that the OECS had not yet received any vaccines from the COVAX Facility. Given that the economies of the OECS region were severely impacted as a result of the effect of the pandemic on tourism, the OECS Authority suggested that access to vaccines could be facilitated if the WHO would move more swiftly to approving more vaccine manufacturers; which would inevitably speed up production and potentially reduce gaps.