US President Joe Biden will use this year's virtual UNGA COVID-19 Summit on Wednesday to call on world leaders to step up efforts to end the pandemic by next year, and set ambitious global vaccination targets, senior US administration officials told reporters
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd September, 2021) US President Joe Biden will use this year's virtual UNGA COVID-19 Summit on Wednesday to call on world leaders to step up efforts to end the pandemic by next year, and set ambitious global vaccination targets, senior US administration officials told reporters.
"The president will call on world leaders to elevate the global level of ambition to end the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, and to build back better health security to prevent and prepare for future pandemics," one official said. "The president will call on global leaders to step up and act with urgency to stamp out the virus everywhere."
After the event, which will kick off at 11:00 a.m. EST (15:00 GMT), the Biden administration will outline targets including an ambitious goal to have all countries hit a vaccination level of 70 percent before next year's UNGA, according to the officials.
Biden also aims to announce that the United States is donating another 500 million vaccine doses to help other countries in defeating the virus, the administration officials said.
The summit, which will last for about four hours, will include representatives from more than 100 countries and will feature over 30 live speakers and approximately 10 recorded remarks. Joining the summit will be heads of state, leaders of international organizations, and private sector philanthropies, along with nongovernmental organizations, the officials added.
The summit will consist of four sessions, the first of which will be chaired by the president and moderated by US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, which will focus on vaccinating the world against COVID-19. It will also include UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The second session will focus on challenges to persistent issues like oxygen while the third session, led by Vice President Kamala Harris, will focus on health security financing, before the closing session with State Department officials on the global COVID-19 response.
