Muscat: Commissioned by His Majesty the Sultan, His Excellency the Minister of Health, participated in the Gavi and COVAX summit under the title 'One Protected World'.
A statement issued online by the Ministry of Health said, "Commissioned by His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, His Excellency Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Saidi, Minister of Health, participated in the virtual summit of COVAX, under the title 'One Protected World' through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi), which is led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners to ensure the acceleration of the distribution of vaccines to low-income countries in a fair manner. Gavi guarantees the equitable distribution of several vaccines, including the polio vaccine and others that are considered an important step against the spread of epidemics and infectious diseases in the world."
Oman was chosen to participate and give a speech in this event due to the international health position that the country occupies. H.E. Dr. Ahmed Al-Saidi conveyed the greetings of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik and thanked His Majesty for choosing the Sultanate to speak on a humanitarian and noble cause.
He also praised the tireless efforts of Gavi, in making the world more liveable for millions of people, despite the challenges the alliance is facing due to this pandemic. The alliance has also demonstrated its ability to stand together and move towards a more equitable global distribution of vaccines.
In his speech, H.E. stressed the need to support COVAX in order to cover the shortcomings due to insufficient financial resources, and appealed to donors to take the initiative and contribute even a little, as distributing roles to everyone would save many lives, and to ensure that the vaccine reached low-income countries fairly and quickly.