At the Fifth WCSP, which has been organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in collaboration with the Austrian National Council from 6-8 September, 2021, she urged countries that have excess vaccine stocks to share them with countries that are lacking vaccines.
"Fair and equitable access to vaccines is needed for everyone. We need to continue to encourage the sharing of vaccines from countries that have excess vaccine supply to countries in need," Maharani said in a statement issued in Jakarta on Monday.
Each country must ensure that everyone in the world has access to vaccines, she reiterated.
All people must also have access to examination or testing and treatment facilities, she added.
"We all need to continue to increase the resources for the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access or COVAX facility to coordinate and distribute vaccines," Maharani said.
The IPU is an international organization consisting of parliaments from sovereign states.
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The meeting of the chairmen of the world's parliaments raised major issues related to multilateralism for peace and sustainable development, she noted. The issue was raised considering that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on global efforts to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs), she said.
The world needs effective multilateralism to overcome the pandemic, as well as measures to overcome various world problems, such as climate change, and achieve peace, she noted.
According to Maharani, the world needs joint steps to overcome the crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic, so every country must participate in increasing international, including inter-parliamentary, cooperation to meet the needs of the people.
"However, this must also be accompanied by efforts to increase production capacity, accelerate vaccine production, and increase technology transfer to developing countries to allow them to produce their own vaccines," she said.
The world needs to have a mechanism to collect basic health resources ranging from medicines, medical equipment to vaccines that can be distributed quickly in the event of a health crisis in several countries, she suggested.
She said the COVID-19 pandemic must serve as a momentum to strengthen health resilience and readiness to face similar pandemics that may occur in the future.
"This requires a good synergy between each parliament and the government. Parliament and the government have an important role in times of crisis, including this pandemic, to make policies that are oriented towards people's welfare," she added.
Maharani is attending the Fifth WCSP in Vienna, Austria.
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Translator: Imam B, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
