Helsinki – The UN actors in Finland acknowledge Finland’s support towards multilateral COVID-19 responses, including through the UN system. In the joint statement released on 16 April 2021, several UN organizations and affiliates in Finland and UN organizations with host country agreements with Finland propose measures through which Finland can step up its efforts in support of global solidarity related to COVID-19 pandemic.

Key messages:

1. All countries must have equitable and fair access to COVID-19 vaccines.

• Finland must keep its promises of financial support to the COVAX facility, the key multilateral mechanism to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, including developing countries.
• Finland must also consider increasing its financial support to multilateral organizations and coalitions working on COVID-19 vaccines such as COVAX, GAVI, CEPI, WHO and UNICEF.

2. Developing countries’ readiness to vaccinate their citizens against COVID-19 must be strengthened.

• Finland must support national COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Plans and strengthening health systems in developing countries, including through multilateral organizations such as WHO and UNICEF.
• Finland must promote vaccine confidence through dialogue, especially with its bilateral partner countries.

3. COVID-19 vaccinations should be equally accessible for all groups of people.

• Finland must, in dialogue with its bilateral partner countries, support equal access of all people, including the vulnerable and excluded groups, to COVID-19 vaccinations.

4. Commitment to multilateral cooperation is key in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Finland must defend international COVID-19 solidarity in high-level negotiations.
• Finland must continue to prioritize its possible future procurement of COVID-19 vaccines through multilateral mechanisms that also take into account the needs of developing countries.
• Finland must donate its own excess COVID-19 vaccine doses to developing countries, through multilateral mechanisms.
• Various UN agencies, funds and programmes are active in COVID-19 response and recovery. Finland must maintain its support to the UN system in the future.

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Joint statement from:

IOM Finland
Finnish Refugee Council
UNICEF Finland
UN Association
UN Global Pulse Finland
UN Women Finland
UNU-WIDER