Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said that ensuring COVID-19 vaccine availability is a crucial weapon for responding to the current pandemic as it could also aid national economic recovery.
“The availability and access of vaccines is extremely necessary for COVID-19 handling as well as supporting economic recovery,” a Finance Ministry statement cited Sri Mulyani as saying during a virtual meeting of the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors on Friday.
The meeting emphasized the crucial role of collective action in encouraging research and development, production, and distribution of COVID-19 tools, including diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.
The meeting also highlighted the need to make them global public goods as countries need equal and affordable access to vaccines to prevent and handle this pandemic.
The G20 countries also discussed Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for developing countries to improve the resistance, preparedness, and response of their health systems to the outbreak.