WTO chief to G-20: Donate 2-3B more COVID-19 vaccine doses

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on G-20 leaders to “do more,” from donating more coronavirus vaccines to removing trade restrictions that affect the vaccine supply chain.

“We need the G-20 to donate more doses right away. As they plan to meet next weekend, it would be good if they came with a figure, about 2, 3 billion more doses,” she said during an online panel event hosted by the Paris Peace Forum and ONE Campaign. Kristalina Georgieva, managing director at the International Monetary Fund, and David Malpass, president at the World Bank, were also present during the event.

She said the G-20 should donate their doses to COVAX, the global COVID-19 vaccine procurement mechanism to achieve “not vaccine diplomacy, but an equitable allocation of these vaccines to the most vulnerable places where they are needed.”

The WTO chief hopes to meet with vaccine manufacturers on July 21 to track how they are increasing vaccine production and “where they are making investments to see how fast” production can go. While the goal this year, according to a proposal put forward by the IMF in May, is to vaccinate at least 40% of the population in all countries by the end of 2021, Okonjo-Iweala said they need to make sure that investments are now moving to reach the target of vaccinating 60% of the population by the first half of 2022.

“My immediate priority is to monitor that and see whether all the capacity that is available in emerging markets and developing countries ... [is] being used. We have manufacturers in Bangladesh, Pakistan, in Argentina [and] other places, saying that they also have [the] capacity to do more, but whether that is being used, we have to see,” she said.

The WTO chief also hopes to get negotiations moving on the issue of technology transfers and intellectual property, which have been ongoing since last year as countries debate whether to waive IP on COVID-19 technologies during the pandemic. She expects discussions at the WTO “would move fast so that by July we have some kind of sensible answer that can help us then with the transfer of technology and a good outcome on the IP issue.”

She also called on the G-20 to remove trade restrictions, which impact vaccine production. During the pandemic, G-20 members took 101 trade measures. While the majority of that helped facilitate trade, 39 were trade-restrictive, she said, without providing further details.

“They started to take those out, but again the pace needs to be faster. We need to open up more and this is where they can really set a good example,” she said.

“We actually have the table showing which G-20 member has what measures … I will carry it with me to Venice so that we can talk practically to G-20 members and urge them to remove the measures,” she added.