UN Chief emphasises the need for COVID-19 vaccine to be affordable and available to all to curb the current global pandemic.

UN News – “The outbreak remains out of control”, Secretary-General António Guterres declared in his press conference ahead of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) High-level Week, noting that soon one million lives will be “lost to the virus”.   

Recognising that many pin their hopes on a vaccine, he said, “let’s be clear: there is no panacea in a pandemic”.   

“A vaccine alone cannot solve this crisis, certainly not in the near term”, stressed the world’s top diplomat. “We need to massively expand new and existing tools that can respond to new cases and provide vital treatment to suppress transmission and save lives, especially over the next 12 months”. 

‘Global public good’ 

He emphasized that because the virus “respects no borders”, a vaccine must be seen as “a global public good”, affordable and available to all, but it requires “a quantum leap in funding”. 

Moreover, people must be willing to be vaccinated, but a proliferation of misinformation on vaccines is fueling vaccine-hesitancy, and igniting wild conspiracy theories, noted the UN chief.  

He spoke of “alarming reports” that large populations in various countries are reluctant, or outright refusing, to take a new coronavirus vaccine.  

“In the face of this lethal disease, we must do our utmost to halt deadly misinformation”, affirmed the Secretary-General. 

Renewed ceasefire call 

Mr. Guterres called for a global ceasefire back in March, recognizing the coronavirus as “the number one global security threat in our world today”. 

And next Tuesday he flagged that would renew the appeal at the beginning of the General Debate, for the international community “to mobilize all efforts for the global ceasefire to become a reality by the end of the year”. 

The UN chief recapped that “hopeful new steps toward peace” have been taken, from Afghanistan to Sudan, and a slowdown in fighting in Syria, Libya, Ukraine and elsewhere, had created an opportunity for diplomacy.   

In Yemen, “we are pressing for a ceasefire” he said, and even though “distrust is deep” across these and other crises, “we must persevere”.   

“We must seize every opening in the weeks ahead and make a new collective push for peace”, upheld the Secretary-General. 

A world in flames 

The UN chief then turned to other global fragilities. 

“Even before the pandemic, the world was far off course in efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and losing the battle against climate change”, he said.  

Mr. Guterres recalled that the northern hemisphere was just coming out of the hottest summer on record and that greenhouse gas concentrations in 2020 had reached “new record highs”. 

“The world is burning”, he told the journalists. 

However, Mr. Guterres maintained that the post-pandemic phase offered an opportunity to “get on track and tame the flames”, but that “it must be green” – aligned with the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement.   

Global solidarity 

Effective multilateralism, gender equality and the voices of youth must also be part of recovery efforts.  

He said that on Monday, Member States would adopt a declaration marking the UN’s 75th anniversary – committing to “a reinvigorated multilateralism”. 

Global solidarity is required to transform the global economy, transition to zero carbon, ensure universal health coverage, move towards a universal basic income, and shift to more open and inclusive decision-making, the UN chief maintained. 

And it rejects “go-it-alone nationalist approaches and divisive populist appeals”, he asserted. 

In this anniversary year, “we face our own 1945 moment”, the Secretary-General said, adding that it must be met with “solidarity and unity like never before” to overcome today’s emergency, get the world moving, working and prospering again while upholding the vision of the Charter.

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Hurricane Paulette battered Bermuda last Monday with strong damaging winds and torrential rains knocking down utility poles and leaving some roads unpassable.

Even if the island was battered by Paullete, the Bermudian spirit remains unshaken.

“After a day and night of high winds, driving rain and exceptional waves, we are on the other side of Hurricane Paulette, thankfully without any loss of life, serious personal injury and less damage to property than we might have expected.” “We have weathered the storm,” Premier David Burt said.

Bermuda recovery efforts

More than 25,000 of Bermuda Electric Light Company’s (BELCO) 36,000 metered customers was affected by the island-wide power outage.

As of 9pm today, there were only 2,353 homes left without power.

Although a considerable number of homes remain without electricity, Premier Burt thanked the BELCO for their sweep action to restore their services.

“This is a remarkable achievement and I have already expressed by thanks on behalf of the people of Bermuda to those men and women at BELCO.”

 BELCO said that their crews continue to work to restore power across Bermuda following damage caused by Hurricane Paulette.

“Our crews will stand down at midnight tonight and begin work tomorrow, Wednesday, September 16, at 8 am. Crews continue to work on mainlines this evening and plan to address pockets of branch line outages tomorrow, starting with more critical areas.”

Minister of National Security Renée Ming also praised other workforce across the island that helped in the recovery effort.

“Traffic is now flowing fairly unhindered thanks to road clean-up efforts by the Department of Parks and Public Works staff aided by the Royal Bermuda Regiment.”

Ming then addressed concerns over Tropical Storm Teddy, located about 1,800 miles southeast of the island and is predicted to develop into a Category 3 hurricane later in the week, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre.

Although early forecasts show the storm making a beeline for Bermuda, Ming said that it is too early to make any predictions, but the Bermuda Weather Service will continue to monitor it for future developments.

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