White House Holds Global COVID Summit at United Nations

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, President Biden virtually hosts world leaders to make commitments for global vaccine and health equipment distribution. 

“As many developing countries struggle with a fourth wave of the pandemic, vaccines and treatment cannot come soon enough," noted Eric LeCompte who is attending the White House summit. LeCompte is the Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network and a UN finance expert. "The longer it takes to vaccinate the majority of the world's population translates to more virus variants and shocks to the global economy."

The White House summit focuses on targets of vaccinating at least 70% of every country's population, regional distribution hubs for protective equipment and global access to COVID treatments. 

"Bringing together heads of state and business leaders, Biden is filling a global leadership void to save lives and prevent more challenges to the global economy,” added LeCompte. "We face a more dire situation because the G20 failed to deliver on financing global vaccine distribution this summer."

In August, LeCompte and major religious leaders met with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on waiving COVID vaccine patents to increase vaccine production and access for developing countries.

"We agree with the White House on waiving vaccine pharmaceutical patents to boost global production of vaccines," stated LeCompte. "We don't expect the summit to focus on this critical issue."

Read about the US Trade Representative Tai/Jubilee USA Network roundtable here.