Media www.rajawalisiber.com – TJ Hello and good day, guten tag. Welcome to today’s press conference on COVID-19 updates. It is Thursday 15th July and we have a very special guest today. Welcome to His Excellency, Federal Minister of Health, Jens Span. We of course also have Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. We have Dr Catharina Boehme, Chef de Cabinet, Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director, Maria Van Kerkhove, Technical Lead on COVID, Dr Bernard Schwartlander, who’s Special Advisor to the Director-General, and Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan and we have other guests and colleagues online.
Simultaneous translation is available in the official languages and also in German so journalists attending can also ask in German. With this I will hand over to the Director-General for the opening remarks and to welcome our guests.
TAG Danke schon, Christian. Good morning, good afternoon and good evening or, should I say, guten morgen, guten tag and guten abend. Thank you for joining us today and I would like to say, herzlich willkommen, to my friend, Jens Spahn, the Federal Minister of Health of Germany. May I add, vielen dank, Jens, for your personal support over the past few years and especially the last difficult 18 months and for the incredible support of the German Government and people for WHO and for global health.
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I would especially like to express my concern and condolences over the floods that are currently affecting Germany and I offer my deep condolences to those who have lost someone they love and my sincere hopes that those who are missing will be found soon.
So welcome once again and I would like to invite you to make your opening comments.
JS Yes. Dear Tedros, ladies and gentlemen, meine damen und herren, the first sentences I’ll do in English and then I’ll switch to German. It’s good to be here again. It’s more or less a year ago that I was here with my French colleague, Olivier Veran, to show again the commitment we as the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union have to the work of the WHO.
TR I say thank you for your warm welcome here today. We have agreed that the pandemic is not yet over although in some countries we are very pleased to see how far they have got in their vaccination campaigns. Although in many parts of the world we are still at the beginning of the vaccination campaigns many should still be vaccinated and in these discussions concerning Europe and Germany I always say it’s in our interest to ensure that the entire world is vaccinated and everyone has access to a vaccine.
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This pandemic will not be over until it is over for everyone around the world and this is why we along with the WHO support… We support the WHO but together we also support programmes to ensure that these vaccines are available in all countries. We do this under the ACT-A programme and today we’ll also be drawing up an agreement between the WHO and Germany that Germany will be providing €260 million in funding specifically for the WHO in order to to help to stimulate development, production and distribution of COVID-19 tests, treatments and above all vaccines.
As a country Germany has decided to commit to this. We are also going to provide at least 30 million vaccines to third countries through COVAX and today I think we can say that we should be able to provide considerably more than these 30 million doses. This is our baseline and in the coming weeks and months we should be able to provide more doses to share with the countries in the world that need them most.
Germany is one of the biggest donors for COVAX and ACT-A with €2.2 billion that we’re providing and then this 260 million to the WHO is a part of that. This also demonstrates that Germany takes its commitments and its job very seriously in fighting international crises.
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However it also demonstrates that we see the WHO as taking a leading role in international health politics and above all that we give it a leading role in fighting global health crises. Only with a strong WHO will we be able to overcome the COVID pandemic.
Only with a strong WHO will we be able to overcome future crises and for this reason Germany is a committed and currently the biggest donor in 2020/2021 for the WHO; almost $1 billion were provided in 2020/2021 from the German Government for the WHO in their work so we are currently the biggest donor but for me, I’m very pleased with this but I also want to encourage all other member states; the WHO can only be as good as we can allow it to be, the member states in providing funding including their financial resources in order to ensure that the WHO is able to cope with all the tasks that it is given during the pandemic and beyond.
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But if it is able to meet all these expectations it also needs the financial means and so I would also like to encourage all other member states to ensure that we have sustainable, not just in this moment of crisis but ongoing funding for the WHO.
Another lesson we can learn from the crisis is that this co-operation can and should be even closer, particularly in times of pandemics. We are also drawing up a pandemic contract which will be discussed in a working group here today and what’s very important to me here is that we need more commitment including in the international agreement for the international health regulations.
These have been in existence for several years but previously they have not been binding because there was also no means for following up on this, for seeing how well the member states met or followed these regulations.
Therefore it’s very important for co-operation to be very close, both to be able to follow up on these international health regulations but also if there should be an outbreak and a crisis that we should be able to act.
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So I’m very pleased that there has been a first investigative mission in China, in Wuhan looking at the possible root cause of the virus but also I hope that this will have been only the first phase, that there will be ongoing investigation. We are very much interested in discovering where this virus came from and I would also like to call on our Chinese colleagues, that we will be able to continue in this investigation to lead to scientific results.
So to sum up, ladies and gentlemen, COVID-19 has demonstrated to us that a virus can only be fought internationally and together and this is what the WHO stands for and so do we as Germany along with our EU partners and all other countries around the world. We are all connected to the World Health Organization and to making it even stronger in the coming years. Thank you.
TAG Thank you. Thank you so much, vielen dank, Jens. As I think everyone knows, Germany has been one of the leading lights in the fight against the pandemic globally under your leadership and that of Chancellor Merkel. Since 2020 Germany contributed close to US$750 million to WHO including more than $500 million to support the COVID-19 response.
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As ministers said, Germany is the largest contributor to WHO. Germany was also one of the main drivers behind the formation of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator last year and we’re very grateful for the further contribution of €260 million and 30 million vaccine doses that Minister Spahn has just announced.
We’ll be signing the agreement under the WHO Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan after today’s press conference. This support comes at a critical time with cases and deaths increasing globally so thank you so much again, Mr Spahn, vielen dank.
As you know, the WHO emergency committee met yesterday and will publish its statement shortly and I would like to thank Professor Didier Houssin, the Chair of the committee, for his leadership and for joining us today.
The committee has expressed concern that the pandemic is being mischaracterised as coming to an end when it’s nowhere near finished. It has also warned about the strong likelihood for the emergence and global spread of new and possibly more dangerous variants of concern that may be even more challenging to control.
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The committee also expressed deep concern about the level of funding for WHO’s strategic preparedness and response plan for COVID-19 which constrains WHO’s ability to co-ordinate the global response to the pandemic, particularly in terms of having the flexibility we need to move at the speed this virus moves.
The committee has called on all countries to support WHO’s call to vaccinate at least 10% of the population of every country by the end of September. These donations announced by Germany today are another step towards reaching those targets so my heartfelt thanks to Germany and vielen dank again.
But what I find even more encouraging is not just Germany’s short-term support but it is long-term vision. Together we will end this pandemic but our horizon must be further and our ambition must be higher as we work together to prevent, detect and respond rapidly to future outbreaks with pandemic potential.
One of the clear lessons of this pandemic is that the world needs a strong and sustainably resourced WHO at the centre of the global health architecture. Germany has been a driving force in advocating for a stronger WHO but also in making it happen. You have truly walked the talk and there is a big difference now between your visit last June and this time, almost a year later.
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I also welcome Germany’s support for the idea of an international pandemic treaty. Today a working group of WHO member states is meeting to consider this idea and others to strengthen global health security. If the world continues down the same road it will continue heading towards the same destination, which is an unsafe world and another devastating pandemic is inevitable.
We need a new approach and a new way of doing things. A treaty would provide a platform for closer international co-operation on preparedness, protection and response. One key area in which improved co-operation is needed is in the way information about emerging pathogens and outbreaks is collected, analysed and disseminated.
In May Minister Spahn joined me to announce the creation of a new WHO hub for pandemic and epidemic intelligence in Berlin which will open in September of this year. This new initiative will mark a step change in harnessing the power of modern technologies to give all countries the information they need; more, better, faster; to keep their people safe.
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So thank you once again, Mr Spahn. We’re in a critical moment not just in terms of this pandemic but in terms of the future of global health security. Germany’s support and collaboration is incredibly valuable. Thank you; vielen dank.
Before we move to questions I would like to invite Professor Houssin to make a few remarks about the outcomes of yesterday’s emergency committee. Professor Houssin, you have the floor.
TR Thank you, Director-General. Minister, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, it’s true that the situation today as it has been evaluated by the emergency committee is not good. The recent trends are of concern. 18 months after the public health emergency was declared we’re still running to catch up with the virus and the virus is still running after us.
If we want to maintain a global approach when we’re dealing with a global phenomenon it’s difficult to overcome all these difficulties. It’s true that the evolution of the virus and the differences between the member states are a source of difficulty.
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I’d like to thank the secretariat of WHO for the quality of information that we received in the emergency committee and I would also like to thank the members of the emergency committee for the recommendations that they were able to make today.
Their recommendations are twofold. There are recommendations first of all to the secretariat of the World Health Organization. It is clear that the technical expertise and recognised leadership of WHO is of utmost importance when dealing with this type of phenomenon. There is only one World Health Organization and it is an entity which has a vision of the world and the necessary political strength to make a certain number of decisions.
We have to make sure that WHO keeps informing on the evolution of the situation and constantly update on the evolution of the pandemic. The two recommendations that have been made by the emergency committee to WHO are to continue to tirelessly advocate for fair access to vaccines and fair distribution around the world by encouraging local production, sharing of doses and freeing intellectual property rights as well as the transfer of technology, increasing production capacities, and of course the necessary funding to implement all these measures.
It’s also essential to be extremely cautious. We should not be tempted to undertake any measures that could increase inequity. I’m referring for example to the decision made by some countries to promote a booster dose, a third dose of the vaccine when in fact there’s no scientific data that justifies that at the moment if you look at the situation from a global point of view.
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The second recommendation to WHO is to guide the member states through the complexities of public health measures based on scientific evidence. It is clear that WHO can make a lot of clarifications in a complex situation. There are also recommendations to the member states.
Of course their main responsibility is towards their own population but when we’re dealing with an event like this – and here I’m mainly thinking about the governments of the member states; they also have a global responsibility and I think that the Minister of Germany has expressed that very clearly a few moments ago.
The main recommendation therefore that we’ve made to member states is to acknowledge that access to vaccines and public health measures to maintain social distancing should be taken very seriously.
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I won’t go into the details of the recommendations but the main recommendations are to continue to use science to implement public health and evidence-based measures in the member states and to avoid organised mass gatherings based on a risk analysis. If these events are to be organised it should be done with all the necessary security measures.
The second recommendation is to support WHO in its call for at least 10% of the population of the member states all around the world to have access to vaccination by September 2021. Thank you very much for your attention.
TAG Thank you, Professor, for your leadership. Now back to you, Christian.
TJ Thank you very much, all. With this we open the floor to questions and of course I would like to invite questions to our special guest here today first. I see first Andreas Rinke from Reuters. Please unmute yourself.
AN Thank you. I have one question to the General Director, please. Mr Spahn just mentioned that he wants a further investigation of the origins of COVID. Do you see enough willingness on the part of the Chinese Government to do so?
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TR And a question for you, Minister Spahn; you mentioned that Germany will probably be able to provide more than these 30 million vaccine doses to other states. Will you be able to tell us how this will be done, whether it will be through COVAX or through bilateral agreements and also for which countries? Thank you.
TAG Thank you. I think the question to me is the origins. As you know, we have done the phase one and it has shown some progress but there are also some challenges that have to be addressed. One of the challenges is what you mentioned; access to raw data; especially at the start of the pandemic the raw data was not shared.
Now we have designed the second phase of the study and we are asking China to be transparent, open and co-operate especially on the information, raw data that we asked for in the early days of the pandemic.
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We will be discussing with member states on phase two and hope member states will help in guiding to address the challenges that I have already underlined, among other things. Thank you. To you, Minister.
JS In general there are three lines we are working on. The first one is in the short term to give doses that are not needed for our national campaign to COVAX. That’s the way we prefer for most of the donations we do through COVAX and some bilateral donations in addition which might be around 20% of the whole quantity.
These are mostly focused on the Western Balkans, on the eastern partnership like Ukraine, Namibia and other countries we are in talks with but 80% at least will go through COVAX; that’s the commitment we made and that will remain. If and how many doses we can add to the 30 millions we will see in the upcoming weeks.
We are lucky enough that our vaccination campaign is making good progress so we will be able to give doses to other countries in need. Actually our approach from the very beginning was we would bet on different horses, as I always said, because none of us knew which vaccine would make it to approval. So we have contracts through the European Union with many of the different sellers, producers of vaccines and so there will be surplus which we want to share with the world.
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The first step is 30 million. How many more I can’t tell you yet but I’m very sure there will be more.
The second line is the financial contribution we give to COVAX, the 2.2 billion and 260 million we will sign of it today to WHO.
The third one is the co-operation that’s more a medium and long-term commitment. It’s the co-operation with states, especially in Africa, that want to build up production capacities on their own. 99% of the vaccines used in Africa for all different diseases are not produced in Africa and so we want to support in good co-operation with the companies like BioNTech or CureVac from Germany; we want to support other countries to build up production capacities but obviously that is something for the medium and long term.
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TJ Thank you both very much. The next question goes to Corinne Gretler from Bloomberg. Corinne, please unmute yourself.
CO Hi, thank you for taking my question. I also have a question about the origin study, one for Mr Tedros and one for Mr Spahn. Is the lack of the raw data the biggest issue that’s hampering moving forward with the origin study? What are the other challenges?
You say you’re discussing this with member states and asking China to be transparent. Sometimes it feels a bit like the momentum has lost steam and may be fizzling out. I just want to see what your take is on that, Mr Spahn.
TAG Thank you very much. Starting from the last one you said, if momentum has been lost, I don’t think so because we need to continue the study in order to know what exactly happened. If we know what happened then we can prevent future similar crises or problems.
So it’s basics; this is what we do when any outbreak happens; forget about a pandemic of this proportion; unprecedented. In any outbreak you go and understand the origins and we need to know what happened in order to prevent the next one.
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But there is the other part of it, especially considering the unprecedented nature of this pandemic, the number of people that died and the number of people that suffered. Take the number of deaths along, more than four million. I think we owe it to them to know what happened and everybody should co-operate to know what happened and to prevent the same crisis from happening again. That’s why we need co-operation.
Then to the challenges, of course one problem is sharing raw data and I said it at the conclusion of the first phase, that there is this problem and it has to be addressed.
The second is there was a premature push to especially reduce one of the options like the lab theory. As you know, I was a lab technician myself, an immunologist and I have worked in the lab and lab accidents happen. It’s common; I have seen it happening and I have myself had errors so it can happen.
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Checking what happened, especially in our labs, is important and we need information, direct information on what the situation of these labs was before and at the start of the pandemic. Then if we get full information we can explore that so one of the challenges again is a challenge of access and also transparency with regard to the hypotheses that are put.
So I hope because of these two things there will be better co-operation; the two things I said; one, knowing, understanding what happened can help us to prevent the problem from happening in the future. But second, I think we owe it to the millions who suffered and to the millions who died to understand what happened and I hope there will be better co-operation.
We have continued the engagement with China and also with member states and there will be better co-operation to get to the bottom of what happened. Minister.
JS First of all I absolutely agree with what was just said. Two days ago in a discussion in the City of Frankfurt a seven-year-old girl asked me, where did it come from? I could not give her a proper, final answer and I think we just need to know where it came from. Of course we all have theories and the one of a zoonotic base to it all makes sense but nevertheless we really need to know how it happened to learn from it and to be better able to prevent it for the future.
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So we do appreciate the co-operation of the Chinese Government so far for the first mission but that’s not yet enough obviously. Like the G7 leaders called for more investigations we fully support this and so we can just call on China to intensify the co-operation to examine the origin of this virus to learn for the future but, as Tedros just said, we owe it to the people.
TJ Thank you both very much. The next question goes to Nina Lamas from RTL [Unclear]. Nina, please unmute yourself.
TR Thank you. One question for Minister Jens Spahn. Besides the donations of funding and vaccines there is a third way we could support poor countries which is with the patent rates for the vaccines, if these were waived for the moment.
The WHO has already supported this a few times. Germany seems reluctant at the moment. Now we’ve heard from Foreign Minister Heiko Maas who travelled to the US a couple of days ago. He said that he is open to this so can we expect the German Government will be changing its position concerning the temporary waiving of the patent and if so why and if not why not?
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NI How much would you appreciate if Germany changed its mind concerning the property rights on COVID-19 vaccines?
Also another question to both of you; some people say that the imbalance between the rich and the poor countries is now increasing as the rich countries are now giving third vaccines; for example Israel and also Germany might do it soon.
Do you think the imbalance will grow between the rich and the poor countries, do you agree to that opinion? Thank you.
TR As for the German position concerning patents for vaccines, our position has not changed fundamentally. I think we need to approach this from the other side; what is our goal. The goal is to vaccinate the world as fast as possible, to give everyone around the world access to vaccines.
The next question then is what is the best way to achieve this goal and it is very clear that having a patent or providing it does not resolve the fundamental issue. Producing vaccines is too complex. There’s energy exchange, you need to exchange with experts, you need training.
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Even pharma corporations that were involved in the production of these vaccines took months to be able to have the production capacities at the end so we think that this debate does not actually address the real problem so it’s very ideological and we can have this debate but the really important question is what is the fastest way to produce as much vaccine as possible for the world and particularly also MRNA vaccines, not only but also.
The corporations are working together; BioNTech, Pfizer have already begin cooperating with other organisations around the world. I spoke to President Macron of France in South Africa. We were part of talks there and France and Germany along with the EU; we all want to support the African Union, countries in Africa in increasing their capacity for production of vaccines not only for COVID-19 but beyond that as well.
This is the key difference to us; that we can build up production capacity. In my opinion it also seems that this is working. We will be able over the next few months to provide hundreds of millions of people with vaccines and we will be doing everything we can to ensure that this continues to move quickly.
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As for the booster vaccine, the third vaccination in different countries, I just mentioned South Africa. When I was there four, five weeks ago, in Germany we were discussing whether 13 or 15-year-olds should be vaccinated because we were discussing whether the MRNA vaccine should be allowed.
This shows how privileged we are in Europe, where we were in a country where not 1% of the population has been vaccinated yet and at the same time in Germany we’re discussing whether to vaccinate 12 or 15-year-olds.
This does show how privileged our position is so we should discuss this critically and openly, as Professor [Unclear] said but from my point of view we need both for acceptance as well. It needs to be from our own interests; it’s for humanitarian reasons but it’s in our own interests to vaccinate the world.
But it must also be accepted and this is why the vaccination campaign must also be successful in every country while we are also providing vaccinations to the entire world. I want both to be possible, for us to be able to provide a third vaccination while also providing a first vaccination to everyone around the world.
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TJ Thank you very much. I’m looking around; maybe Mike Ryan wants to add.
TAG Me then. Thank you. On vaccines, will the divide increase or improve, will it deteriorate further or improve, the imbalance? My answer is, it’s in our hands. If we commit to sharing and the targets we have already set, the 10% by September, 40% by December and the 70%, we believe that especially those countries who have access to vaccines and who have the manufacturing capacity or who have the economic capacity, I think, can support in making it happen.
So the imbalance can be reversed; we have the tools and we know how to address this problem so it’s in our hands. But for this to happen there should be a real commitment, especially from the G20 countries or G20+ because most of the capacity is in those countries.
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Then going to the IP, on the IP, as you know, especially at the start what we were advocating for was increasing the production and fair distribution and we have said it many times actually; AstraZeneca followed that line, especially commitment to voluntary licensing and started making agreements with India, with Korea so India and Korea are producing AstraZeneca.
Now Australia, Japan, Thailand are also producing soon and we expect more countries. If the other companies had done the same thing we could have better volume to share so at the end of the day the issue is, how do we have enough pie to share?
So if it was addressed using voluntary licensing or had we used the patent hub, if they contributed their technology to that hub and then production increased and we had better pie to share, there was no need even to raise the IP if there was enough to share.
The problem now is after pushing in that direction there was no response except from one company basically. Because of that there is a problem now, there is a market failure so when there is a market failure there should be someone who should intervene to address it.
Those who will intervene to address it will be those who have the manufacturing capacity or those who have the multinational companies. One way to do it is the IP waiver and that’s why we’re pushing for IP waiver.
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But when we say IP waiver it’s not to really snatch the property of the private sector. As the WHO we really appreciate the private sector for what they have done; it’s a historic record to have a vaccine in less than a year and they have to be appreciated.
At the same time not only appreciation; when we ask for IP waiver the proposal from WHO is the high-income countries can give some incentives to those companies as part of their stimulus package. So that could really help them to address any financial losses that they may have so the incentive could be one.
On the other hand, the companies have social responsibility as well because this pandemic is unprecedented and it has happened almost after 100 years. The provisions for IP waiver was to use it during this unprecedented situation or emergency situation.
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So having some social responsibility from the companies will be important and from the parties who are now negotiating in WHO I think there could be a balance especially if there is an agreement in IP waiver, it could be for a limited period. For instance instead of offering it without any limited period it could be for a year or two and it could be for a specific product like the vaccine.
So there could be a balance that can help address some of the challenges but at the same time moving forward. At the end of the day though the key is making sure that we have enough vaccines to achieve those targets.
If I take the highest target which we want to achieve by mid next year it’s the 70% and vaccination of 70% of the population would really help us to control this virus and open our society. The whole world is sick and tired and I think we need to really have a commitment to that 70% so we have enough vaccination to open up the world and we have our lives and livelihoods back.
TJ Thank you both. Next question goes to Priti Patnak from Geneva Health Files. Priti, please unmute yourself.
PR Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. This is for the Minister. It follows up on the previous question. The leadership of Germany in global health and specifically at WHO is acknowledged.
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But how do you reconcile the position of Germany in opposition to the TRIPS waiver? One could argue that there’s some kind of a discordance between health and trade interests within Germany. That doesn’t seem like a position of leadership as far as the TRIPS wavier is concerned. How would you explain that? Thank you.
JS Thank you very much. Again what I say, what we say is, let’s talk about what we want to achieve. What we want to achieve is that all citizens in the world have affordable access to vaccines.
Then the question is, how is that reached? We don’t think that only changing TRIP waiver or the framework here or to open it up or even to enforce something there would really make the difference because you need tech transfer.
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One of the most complex things in the world you can try to produce is a vaccine, especially now with this new technology of MRNA and so you definitely need co-operation. Just having a patent, a waiver does not solve the problem.
What we do see is that the companies are willing to co-operate. I’m almost in a weekly discussion with the companies that we have contracts with. We push them to co-operate and they do with other countries around the world, with companies around the world to produce even more.
I wouldn’t wonder if in the next year we will have more or less and overcapacity of MRNA production, which is good actually. Then we have enough but there are so many co-operations on the way that what we want to reach, what we want to achieve can be achieved without inflicting with this waiver regulation that is there.
Tedros just made it clear; these were companies, these were people with their research, with their engagement for years, by the way; it was not invented within some months; this was a ten, 15-year journey to develop this MRNA technology that is now for the first time used for this vaccine. Actually that should be appreciated and of course you appreciate it by intellectual property.
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So if we were not able to reach the goal without this debate of how to change the TRIPS approach and patent waivers then we would be on the way with you or with many others. But we can reach it without so why put this burden of this ideological debate on this? Instead we should just solve the problem and bring vaccines to the people.
TJ Thank you very much, Minister. Next question goes to Harman Strauss from Rheinische Post. Harman, please unmute yourself.
TR Thank you for giving me the opportunity to ask this question to the Director-General. Minister Spahn called on other countries to provide more funding. Would you also support this call and which countries in particular would you call on?
TAG Thank you very much. More funding; I fully agree and thank you so much to Germany and Minister Spahn for walking the talk. They’re not only asking other countries to contribute but also they have increased their contribution in the last two years very, very significantly.
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Then the other part is not only increasing funding but at the same time flexible funding. The bulk of funding we get from Germany is flexible and we really appreciate from that. So when we ask for funding it has to be more but at the same time flexible.
Then on which countries, we’re asking all countries to contribute. As you know, we have a working group now composed of member states. It’s chaired by a German colleague, Bjorn Kummel [?] and it has been there for some months now.
One of the recommendations they’re putting together is increasing assist contribution and if it’s assist contribution then many countries, almost all member states will be involved. That will be a very important development or progress but in addition to that we will continue to need voluntary contributions like we’re signing now with Germany today.
This will be specifically with the G20 plus some countries who have better economic capacity to provide so I think if I tailor the request specifically it will be G7, G20 and some countries outside the G20 but who have a good capability to finance so I can say G20+ would be, I think, the target. Thank you very much.
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TJ Thank you very much, Director-General. Next question goes to Laurent Zero from Swiss News Agency. Laurent, please unmute yourself.
LA Thank you for taking my question, a question to Minister Spahn. Federal Chancellor Merkel said that Germany won’t go for mandatory vaccination of health workers and critical people as France decided to do.
It seems now that every European country is facing the period where they have to convince the most skeptical part within the health population. So what kind of new concrete steps are you going to take in the next few months in order to convince these people to reach that part of the population? Thank you.
TR This is true. We are in a situation where vaccination campaigns in many countries and probably in all countries over time will reach this point, where initially those receive vaccines who actively want to be vaccinated, who are easy to reach.
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We are now coming into this phase along with other countries where we are trying to reach those who are not actively seeking a vaccination but who can be reached with information and with an offer.
So we want to work in Federal Germany in the different Bundeslander but we want to work in towns and villages with different societies. The German Bundesliga is also going to take part of this so to have meetings outside churches, outside mosques and to call on people to get vaccinated so that’s our motto in this phase of the campaign.
One very important point is that vaccines are the way back to normality, to freedom but it’s also a protection for the healthcare system. We had a discussion about the fact that getting vaccinated is a very personal decision but, though this is true, it is also a decision that affects other people.
In getting vaccinated you don’t protect only yourself but also others and anyone who chooses not to get vaccinated and runs the risk of falling ill, potentially very seriously; in the end that will then affect the doctors and nurses who have to take care of them.
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So the question of whether to get vaccinated is indeed a personal decision but is also one that will always affect other people and that is something that we are trying to make very clear in our campaign now.
TJ Thank you very much, Minister Spahn. With this we’ve reached the end of our press briefing. I thank all very much and before I give the floor to Dr Tedros to close I’ll invite Dr Mike Ryan for some closing remarks.
MR Thank you, Christian, and greetings, Mr Spahn, welcome. I remember the first time we met was on the front line of an Ebola response together and that shows again the commitment of Germany to seeing what happens and what goes on on the ground and the realities of epidemic containment in the front line.
Again just to note that Germany is the largest contributor to the contingency fund for emergencies that WHO maintains, which represents globally the fastest response mechanism financially to emergencies and we continue to use that fund day in, day out.
00:53:09
It’s increased the speed, efficiency, effectiveness and life-saving quality of our interventions.
Secondly again the collaboration we’re currently working on for the WHO pandemic intelligence hub in Berlin is superb and we have a huge opportunity together to build with other partners from all around the world the sort of platform that will take us forward to another level, a completely different level on our ability to collect, analyse and develop insights from ever more complex data, from multiple sources.
I think it leverages off Berlin and its environment which has really established itself globally as a leader in this field and we hope that this collaboration will lead to better tools, better data, better decisions and better outcomes for people during epidemics in future.
Just one final word on the origins studies, I wanted to come in at the time because there was a question about the continuity of phase one and phase two. I think it’s important to recognise that the phase one studies were carried out by a hugely dedicated, tremendously courageous and massively patient group of international scientists who came together at the invitation of the Director-General and worked tirelessly under incredible pressure, incredible duress and produced a high-quality report that represents the basis on which we can now move forward into phase two.
00:54:56
It’s important to recognise too that they have built important relationships and trust with equally competent Chinese scientists and counterparts on the other side. Those scientists and the further scientists we will involve as we try to build a more formal and standardised and collective approach to origin studies.
I think we’ve all learnt in this process, the issue of the origins of viruses, as we’ve all seen, is not purely scientific. There are other issues that come to bear and we need to recognise those in future and we need to create a safe and permanent space in which the science and the understanding…
As the DG said, we need to understand the origins because we need to know how to prevent the next one but we also have to recognise that we live in a real world and we have to try and create the platforms on which science can be successful, also recognising the realities of the world around that science.
00:55:49
The DG has done it before; I myself, maria and many others would like to do it again; to thank the team of scientists on our side and our own WHO staff who’ve participated and supported not only the phase one studies but all of the work that went in before, all of the work that has gone in since in order to design the next phase of studies.
We look forward to working with our Chinese counterparts on that process and the Director-General will outline measures to member states tomorrow in order to create a more stable and predictable process moving forward as we seek the answers that the Director-General has laid out.
But again to say, this organisation depends so much on the quality of the scientists in all of your organisations and they have done their job superbly, as I said, under very challenging conditions. The DG has outlined those challenges and is very clear what needs to improve but that issue does not lie at the foot of the scientists who did this work.
TJ Thank you very much, Dr Ryan. Before I give the floor to Dr Tedros for closing remarks, we’ll be sending the audio files and the remarks of our special guests and Dr Tedros right after the press conference. The full transcript will be posted again tomorrow morning on our website. Dr Tedros.
00:57:31
TAG Thank you. I don’t have another summary to do so I concur with Mike and I would like also to thank Jens, my friend, for joining us and also appreciation for all the support from you and Germany. Vielen dank.
Then to Professor Houssin; for your leadership, sir, thank you so much for leading the emergency committee and I hope the recommendations will help address some of the challenges we’re facing now.
I would like to thank the Media; we have, I think, colleagues from Germany this time. Thank you for joining; vielen dank. See you in our upcoming press conference. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jens.
00:58:33