Governments of countries where vaccines are being produced – the United States, European Union members, the United Kingdom, India, Russia, and China – need to cooperate under United Nations leadership to ensure that a sufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses reaches the poorest countries. Five steps are especially urgent.
NEW YORK – The world stands at a critical juncture of the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries that lack the first round of vaccine coverage are extraordinarily vulnerable to the highly infectious Delta variant, and are also seedbeds for new variants that could quickly spread worldwide. The Lancet COVID-19 Commission, which I chair, is working urgently with the United Nations system to strengthen the multilateral response. Governments of countries where vaccines are being produced – the United States, European Union members, the United Kingdom, India, Russia, and China – need to cooperate under UN leadership to ensure that a sufficient supply of vaccine doses reaches the poorest countries.
The high-income countries now have more than 50% of their population fully vaccinated. Yet the fully vaccinated population in Africa remains under 4%. This lack of vaccine coverage in Africa, and in low-income countries elsewhere, poses an imminent danger to these populations.
US President Joe Biden has called for a vaccine summit on September 22. This is potentially a highly significant step forward. It is important that the US hold this meeting in cooperation with China, India, Russia, and the other vaccine-producing countries, and with the UN system. Only the UN, with its universal membership and its operational capacity in low-income countries, has the ability to coordinate the rapid global scale-up of vaccine coverage.
In April 2020, the UN created the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility to provide vaccines to lower-income countries. These countries expected COVAX to provide timely deliveries. Yet COVAX has been unable to buy a sufficient volume of vaccine doses mainly because high-income countries have repeatedly cut to the front of the queue. Moreover, the vaccine-producing countries’ governments have imposed export quotas so that COVAX is often unable to secure even the vaccines for which it has contracts. The company shareholders are of course happy with these arrangements, because the rich countries pay more for the doses than COVAX would.
Maria Fernanda Espinosa Calls for Stronger Preventive Diplomacy as the UN Marks its 80th Anniversary
As the United Nations commemorates its 80th anniversary, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, former President of the UN General Assembly and Co-Chair of the Global Preventive Diplomacy Initiative (GPDI), spoke to CGTN’s flagship program The Agenda about the urgent need to modernize the UN and make preventive diplomacy the central pillar of its peace and security agenda.
Read more
CIRSD and NGIC Coorganize a High-Level Conference at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna
Vienna, October 21, 2025 — The Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) and the Nizami Ganjavi International Center (NGIC), convened a high-level international conference titled “Shifting Grounds: The Caucasus, Central Asia and Europe in a New Global Order”, in partnership with the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.
Read more
Vuk Jeremić Addresses the China Institute’s Thinkers Forum on the Future of the World Order
Shanghai, October 2025 — President of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) Vuk Jeremić, took part in the Thinkers Forum organized by the China Institute, marking the jubilee 10th anniversary of this distinguished institution.
Read more
Kazakhstan Will be an Enduring Geopolitical Convergence Point
As the history of humanity repeatedly demonstrates, being blessed with geography alone is no guarantee of long-term survival, let alone tangible influence. Instead, one’s ability to use geography as leverage for far-reaching strategy is what separates the survivors from those that stay on the margins.
Read more