Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to all Member States, and thank you for joining us once again.
I have just come from the second meeting of the IHR Emergency Committee, which I convened to consider whether the multi-country outbreak of monkeypox constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.
Of course, we will inform all Member States of the committee's recommendation and my decision as soon as possible.
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Meanwhile, your Secretariat remains totally focused on continuing to support Member States to respond to the global health emergency that I declared two-and-a-half years ago - the COVID-19 pandemic.
As you know, we are now seeing increasing numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths around the world.
In the past six weeks, the global weekly number of reported cases has almost doubled.
As the virus continues to circulate widely, new and dangerous variants are emerging, including some which reduce the efficacy of vaccines.
In far too much of the world, health and care workers, older people and other populations at high risk of severe disease and death remain unprotected.
Of course, we have made significant progress, and much of the world is far better protected than they were two years ago, with a reduction in deaths and severe disease, giving health and socio-economic systems the space to recover.
Since October 2021, when our COVID-19 vaccination strategy was released, coverage has increased by more than 40% in lower-middle income countries, and by 15% in lower-income countries.
In January 2022, the WHO Secretariat and our partners established the COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership, which has addressed political, operational and financial bottlenecks in several countries.
The conditions for all countries to achieve high levels of vaccination coverage are now in place, thanks to the hard work of governments, health services and communities.
The pandemic is far from over, but we are now in a very different situation to where we were a year ago, and we have learned a number of important lessons.
One of the most important is that the most effective way to save lives, protect health systems and reopen societies and economies is to vaccinate the right groups first.
Even in some countries that have reached 70% vaccination coverage, if significant numbers of health workers, older people and other at-risk groups remain unvaccinated, deaths will continue, health systems will remain under pressure and the global recovery will be at risk.
That's why the Secretariat is now launching an update to the Global COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy, to focus our collective action through the end of the year.
The strategy emphasises for countries, manufacturers, partner institutions, and the public the need to vaccinate the most at-risk groups, including 100% of health and care workers, 100% of older people and 100% of those at highest risk.
We continue to urge all Member States to strive for the target of 70% vaccination coverage, with a focus on targeted vaccination strategies that prioritize the most vulnerable, which is the most effective way to save lives.
To be clear: protection means vaccinating with a primary series of vaccinations, along with booster doses. While new and potentially more effective vaccines are being developed, Member States should use the vaccines that are available now.
The currently available, authorized vaccines provide strong protection against severe disease and death.
That is the single best way to save lives, protect health systems and keep societies and economies open.
But while vaccines have saved countless lives, they have not substantially reduced transmission.
As a result, it is vital for governments and the private sector to continue collaborating and investing in the development of new vaccines, to achieve durable, broadly protective immunity, and substantially reduce transmission.
We also need vaccines that can be delivered more easily, such as through nasal sprays or drops.
It is crucial that as new vaccines and other COVID-19 tools are developed, they are available equitably to all countries. We must never repeat the mistakes of the past.
One of the ironies of the pandemic is that even as the world mounted the largest vaccination campaign in history, disruptions to essential health services have set us back on other life-saving vaccination programmes.
Just last week, together with UNICEF, we released the Global Immunization Coverage Values for 2021 report.
The report documents an unprecedented and sustained backslide in rates of immunization for deadly diseases like measles, pneumonia, polio, diarrhoea, and cervical cancer.
25 million children missed out on basic vaccines last year. Even as societies have reopened, many immunization systems have not recovered.
The vast majority of these children live in low- and middle-income countries, far too many of which are also seeing rising rates of severe acute malnutrition, which makes children even more vulnerable to disease.
Missed immunizations means we have missed the chance to stop preventable suffering and death.
We understand that due to the economic impacts of the pandemic, many Member States, particularly low- and middle-income countries, face difficult choices in the use of finite resources.
But as these difficult choices are made, it is important to remember that vaccination is the health intervention with the greatest return on investment.
It's not a question of whether countries can afford to restore routine immunization programmes; it's a question of whether they can afford not to.
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Today I am honoured to welcome Her Excellency Dr Wilhemina Jallah, the Minister of Health of Liberia;
His Excellency Zahid Maleque, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare of the People's Republic of Bangladesh;
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Catherine Russell, the Executive Director of UNICEF;
David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group;
And Dr Seth Berkley, Chief Executive Officer of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
In a few moments, we will begin with an epidemiological update from my colleague Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for COVID-19.
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Finally, I want to alert you to an important new publication, WHO's first World Report on the health of refugees and migrants, which we launched yesterday.
The report details how the health needs of refugees and migrants are often neglected or unaddressed.
It also highlights a fundamental knowledge gap: refugees and migrants are virtually absent from global surveys and health data, making these vulnerable groups almost invisible in the design of health systems and services.
The report also highlights examples of good practices from around the world, and it offers a strategic vision for a set of collective responses to protect and promote the health migrants and refugees.
We hope you will use this report to develop evidence-informed policies and actions.
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Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends, as always, we are grateful for your engagement with today's presentations, and we look forward to your questions, comments and guidance.
I thank you.
