We have made great progress, but the pandemic is not over, and now is the time to prepare for the next.
The United States as first COVID Summit Chair, Belize, as CARICOM Chair; Germany, holding the G7 Presidency; Indonesia, holding the G20 Presidency; and Senegal as African Union Chair, co-host the second Global COVID-19 Summit on May 12, 2022. The Summit redoubles our collective efforts to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic – for everyone, everywhere – and prepare for future health threats. This Summit builds on the President’s first Global COVID-19 Summit held in September 2021 and on the work underway through the COVID-19 Global Action Plan.
We are calling on world leaders, members of civil society, non-governmental organizations, philanthropists, and the private sector to make new commitments and bring solutions to vaccinate the world, save lives now, and build better health security — for everyone, everywhere. No one is safe, until we are all safe.
The United States has led an unprecedented effort to vaccinate the world, donating over half a billion safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines doses to 115 countries and economies around the world in partnership with COVAX and the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust or bilaterally, and provided lifesaving tests, treatments, and supplies. We have also bolstered the effort to help countries prepare for the next pandemic. These efforts are saving lives and protecting against the potential spread of new variants.
Now is the Time to Control COVID-19 and Prepare for the Next Pandemic
The emergence and spread of new variants, like Omicron and its subvariants, have reinforced the need for additional efforts and resources aimed at controlling COVID-19 worldwide. Together, we can mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and protect those at the highest risk with vaccinations, testing, and treatments, actions to minimize disruption to routine health services, and through support for the ACT-Accelerator multilateral mechanism. We know we must prepare now to build, sustain, and finance the global capacity we need, not only for emerging COVID-19 variants, but also for future health crises. To help achieve these goals, we urge all countries and stakeholders to pledge to take urgent actions to create the systems we need to end the acute phase of COVID-19, save lives, and build better health security and health systems.
Goals of the Second Global COVID-19 Summit
The Summit is commitment-driven and builds on the themes and commitments made in the first Global COVID-19 Summit convened by President Biden in September 2021. It places an emphasis on supporting locally-led solutions for both immediate and long-term challenges, including:
- Vaccinating the World and getting shots into arms
- Saving Lives Now by deploying tests and treatments, especially for the highest-risk populations
- Building Better Health Security by:
- Generating sustainable financing for pandemic preparedness, health security, and health systems, including through the establishment of a new health security and pandemic preparedness financial intermediary fund at the World Bank.
- Expanding and protecting the health workforce and minimizing disruptions to routine and essential health services; and
- Enhancing access to medical countermeasures, including research and development and scaling and diversifying local and regional manufacturing.
Key Outcomes of the Second Global COVID-19 Summit
- Preventing complacency: The pandemic is not over, and now is the time to prepare for the next one. The Summit will focus on securing new resources to control COVID-19 in 2022.
- Protecting the Most Vulnerable: The Summit will focus on getting vaccines, tests, and treatments to those at highest risk, like the elderly, the immunocompromised and frontline and health workers.
- Preventing future catastrophes: by investing now to secure political commitment for pandemic preparedness globally. The Summit will focus on expanding and financing country capacity, health workers, disease surveillance, and medical countermeasures, including through the new health security and pandemic preparedness financial intermediary fund at the World Bank.
