As the world continues to grapple with COVID-19’s far-reaching impacts and the emergence of new variants, there remains an urgent need for political and diplomatic engagement and coordination to accelerate progress to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen health security.
Accordingly, the United States and Japan will jointly host a virtual COVID-19 Ministerial on July 19 to further galvanise international action, measure progress, and outline necessary steps to control COVID-19 and strengthen global health security.
Antony Blinken, U.S., Secretary of State in a press statement on Friday, said the participating government officials and international organisation representatives would meet to maintain progress and drive action on the six lines of effort in the COVID-19 Pandemic Prioritised Global Action Plan for Enhanced Engagement (“GAP”), which they launched earlier this year:
“(1) Getting Shots in Arms; (2) Bolstering Supply Chain Resilience; (3) Addressing Information Gaps; (4) Supporting Health Care Workers; (5) Ensuring Acute Non-Vaccine Interventions (Test and Treat); and (6) Strengthening the Global Health Security Architecture.
“Health security is national security, and all governments and stakeholders must play a central role in bringing the acute phase of this pandemic to an end.
“No one country acting alone can stop the virus, and the United States will continue to coordinate closely with our global partners to emerge stronger from this pandemic and build a more resilient global health infrastructure,’’ he stated.
Blinken noted that next week’s Ministerial would constitute another important step on that path.
