Yesterday at the Second Global Covid Summit, both US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took time during their speeches to announce that “the pandemic is not over.”
President Biden made the remarks while speaking about the official US death toll from Covid, which has just passed 1 million.
“There’s still so much left to do – this pandemic isn’t over,” said Biden.
“…Today, we’re at a new stage in fighting this pandemic, facing an evolving set of challenges. We have to double down on our efforts to get shots in people’s arms, country by country, community by community; ensure we have reliable and predictable supplies of vaccines and boosters for everyone, everywhere…we have to prevent complacency.”
He referenced the need to create “next-generation vaccines,” and later added that the world must “prepare for the next health crisis, because there will be others.”
“We have to start working to prevent the next variant and the next pandemic now,” he said.
.@POTUS at the Second #GlobalCOVIDSummit: “Today, we are at a new stage in fighting this pandemic, facing an evolving set of challenges. And we have to prevent complacency.” Read President Biden’s full remarks and learn about our new commitments here: https://t.co/J8ahKvMvpf. pic.twitter.com/Q0yhWjaL30
— Department of State (@StateDept) May 13, 2022
German chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke along similar lines.
“A well known saying says ‘perception is reality’,” said Scholz.
“But the Covid-19 pandemic is proving this wrong. Our perception might be that Covid is over. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has overtaken the pandemic in the headlines. And after two long years people are simply sick and tired of reading about Covid.”
The pandemic is not over. What we need is more money to fight Covid19, more vaccinations and local production of vaccines worldwide, a strong @WHO and more resilience of our healthcare systems. Thanks, @potus, for this #globalCOVIDsummit which helps taking action together. pic.twitter.com/dXzTBmfuTS
— Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) May 12, 2022
However, he added: “The dire reality is, the pandemic is not over.
“…Current outbreaks and new variants of concern show the risk of prolonging the pandemic even further.”
Additionally, European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen stated that it was important to “end the pandemic.”
President @vonderleyen participated with @POTUS in the 2nd COVID-19 summit.
We commit a further €400 million to support vaccination in countries in need and the work of @ACTAccelerator and envisage making a $450 million contribution to the global pandemic preparedness fund.
— European Commission (@EU_Commission) May 12, 2022