On March 26th, the Munich Security Conference hosted a virtual roundtable on global health cooperation, bringing together more than 30 experts from WHO, UNICEF, the European Commission, GAVI the Vaccine Alliance and other organizations. Ms. TANG Bei, a China Forum Expert and Associate Fellow at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Shanghai International Studies University was one of the participants.

The roundtable, titled “A Fair Share: Leveling up Vaccine Cooperation,” was moderated by Carmen Paun, global health reporter at Politico. Discussants noted that compared to past pandemics, the international community has made great strides in the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, but solidarity and rapid translation of commitments into actions remain issues that need to be addressed in order to expand vaccine supply and ensure equitable distribution. Participants also discussed issues on vaccine regulation and approval procedures, expanding global vaccine supply, and vaccine diplomacy. Ms. TANG Bei pointed out that China has proposed for vaccines to be provided as a global public good, and that better transparency is needed in terms of vaccine approval and procurement procedures across multilateral organizations in order to better meet today’s challenges.