ASEAN, EU hold dialogue on COVID-19 vaccines
(VOVWORLD) - ASEAN and EU experts have discussed the emergence of new COVID-19 variants, the scaling up of vaccine manufacturing capacity, and the challenges of vaccine rollouts.
 Kung Phoak, ASEAN Deputy Secretary General for Socio-Cultural Community (Photo: Tran Chien/VNA)
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ASEAN’s Deputy Secretary General Kung Phoak said at the recent second EU-ASEAN Expert Dialogue on COVID-19 Vaccines that on May 14 the ASEAN health ministers adopted a Regional Strategic and Action Plan on ASEAN Vaccine Security and Self-Reliance until 2025, which will increase cooperation on vaccine initiatives in the region.
EU Ambassador to ASEAN Igor Driesmans said the EU and its members are the leading supporters of the COVAX Facility, and have pledged more than 2.47 billion EUR to it.
The Facility aims to give every country vaccine access, supplementing EU assistance to Southeast Asia, which includes the 800-million-EUR “Team Europe” package to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on ASEAN, and a 20-million-EUR support program for WHO activities in the region.
Driesmans added that the EU has exported half of its vaccine production, more than 205 million doses, to 45 countries around the globe, including 3.8 million doses to Singapore and 2.5 million doses to Malaysia. ASEAN is supposed to receive more than 32 million doses through the Facility before the end of the year.