05 Jul 2021

Pricing for COVID-19 vaccines should be fair and transparent, says Commonwealth secretary general, Ms Patricia Scotland.

It was on this basis that she butressed need for swift and equal access to vaccines. 

Speaking during a courtesy call on Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, Dr Lemogang Kwape, in Gaborone yesterday, Ms Scotland expressed concern over gaps in access and delivery of doses, especially in poor countries. 

She said 0.5 per cent of  life-saving vaccine doses had been administered in Africa, adding that about 84 per cent of shots were in high and upper-middle-income countries. 

She said vaccination was the only sustainable route out of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Ms Scotland, who is in Botswana on a three day working visit, said countries must move away from stockpiling vaccines, while many low-middle income countries were in need. 

Regarding global tourism, Ms Scotland said the COVID-19 pandemic was having far-reaching and devastating effects on the sector, particularly for low income countries. 

She said Commonwealth proposed development of global tourism action plan to spur recovery. 

She said the action plan provided practical policy options for reviving the tourism sector. 

Ms Scotland further highlighted that the recovery of tourism in Commonwealth countries was dependent on actions of major tourism source markets such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

Therefore, there was need for coordination between source markets and traveler destinations to facilitate and foster tourism demand. 

On other issues, Ms Scotland said Commonwealth had reaffirmed its solidarity with eSwatini.

 She reiterated commitment to work with government and relevant stakeholders towards promoting sustainable development, peace and democracy in the Kingdom of eSwatini.” 

However, she said Commonwealth was concerned about the violence that led to loss of lives and destruction of property in eSwatini. 

She called for calm and restraint, adding that all political and civic leaders should demonstrate tolerance in order to promote unity and engage on peaceful channels to address grievances. 

Ms Scotland said she would continue to work with regional and international partners to encourage constructive dialogue to foster sustainable peace. 

For his part, Dr Kwape said the global disparity in access to vaccines remained one of the biggest challenges to ending the pandemic. 

He appealed for support of Commonwealth in solving global vaccine crisis as well advocating for greater sharing in efforts to save lives. 

Dr Kwape said vaccines were reducing death rate in countries that had them in sufficient quantities and early results suggested that vaccines might also drive down transmission. Ends