Health Minister: Saudi Arabia provided $770m for worldwide vaccine production

Saudi Minister of Health, Eng. Fahad Al-Jalajel praised the great contributions made by his country to support efforts to combat the epidemic on the global stage. This came during a speech he delivered at the 75th session of the General Assembly of the World Health Organization WHO, which concluded on May 23rd in Geneva, Switzerland.

Al-Jalajel added that Saudi Arabia was one of the first countries that -during its leadership of the G20- requested holding a special summit to unify global efforts to contain the pandemic, which resulted in unprecedented global cooperation, in which Saudi Arabia actively participated by launching the initiative to accelerate the production of vaccines through supporting the COVAX manufacturing facility with direct financial assistance totaling more than $770 million.

On a different note, Al-Jalajel congratulated Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on his re-election as Director-General of the WHO for a second term, and the renewal of the international community's confidence in his leadership of the Organization. Al-Jalajel also held several bilateral side meetings, in which he met the Ministers of Health in Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Djibouti, Cuba, Maldives, Poland, Malaysia, and India. During these meetings, bilateral health cooperation was discussed.

It is worth noting that this WHO meeting is the first since the beginning of the pandemic. The theme of this year’s Assembly is Health for peace, peace for health. where representatives of member states, partner agencies, civil society representatives, and experts discuss the present and future public health issues of global importance.