FNC presents UAE’s national, international efforts to address impact of coronavirus pandemic at OECD Global Parliamentary Network

ABU DHABI, (Pakistan Point News - 11th Feb, 2021) The Federal National Council (FNC) participated in a virtual meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Parliamentary Network, which discussed global cooperation on ensuring effective rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. The meeting was held under the theme ''Co-operating on Vaccines: What we must do next''.

During the online meeting, the FNC's representatives highlighted the UAE’s national and international efforts to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and its contribution to the global COVAX initiative launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries.

The FNC was represented in the meeting by Mariam Majid bin Theneya, FNC Member, Head of the Mediterranean Parliamentary Group and FNC Ambassadress to Women’s Political Leaders Organisation, who presented the country's efforts to address the effects of the crisis.

She also presented the UAE’s implementation of the National Vaccination Campaign, to ensure effective vaccine rollout among all Emirati residents.

The country supports the WHO’s COVAX initiative, which aims to ensure the fair distribution of nearly two billion doses of the coronavirus vaccine in 2021, she added while pointing out that the meeting, which was attended by representatives of regional and international organisations, discussed the efforts made to counter coronavirus, as well as the local distribution of vaccines, the strategies implemented by each country to encourage its citizens to take the vaccine, and the exchange of relevant information and best practices.

The meeting’s participants also addressed the health and economic challenges facing the world as a result the pandemic, she said in conclusion.

Speakers said the development of vaccines against COVID-19 is an extraordinary success story. In less than a year, novel vaccines were developed, tested, and approved and vaccination campaigns are underway. To facilitate expansion of manufacturing and production of the vaccine, they stressed that the world needs to ensure that technology and know-how are transferred more widely. Massive scaling-up of manufacturing will see millions of doses produced globally in just a few months, allowing for an unprecedented global immunisation effort. However, they noted, this will require extraordinary logistic and organisational efforts to deliver these vaccines to people rapidly and efficiently.

A session was dedicated to address the ''Implications and lessons from COVID-19 waves: resilience of health systems'' where speakers noted that the COVID-19 global pandemic continues to impose a heavy health toll in many countries. The pandemic has shown that health systems were unprepared, and that additional investments will be needed to make them more resilient in the future. This will help ensure that the significant human, social, and economic impacts of health shocks are not going to be repeated.

They added that Strong Primary health care and long-term care are key elements of resilient health systems. As the frontline of the health system, high-performing primary care helps maintain populations healthy, and ensure the continuity of care during times of disruption. By focusing on some of the most vulnerable people in societies, long-term care must have the necessary resources and tools to ensure that the needs of the elderly are met