Coronavirus: Imran Khan highlighted the importance of vaccine availability and how important it is that vaccines be equitable, timely available, in appropriate supply, and delivered quickly to low income countries. PM Khan emphasised on the fact that higher income countries should help out the lower income countries on vaccine development and procurement.
Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI and @BillGates discuss next steps on COVID-19 response, polio eradication and climate change pic.twitter.com/pryi2Hy7EV
— Prime Minister's Office (@PakPMO) April 28, 2021
This comes after Bill Gates released a statement on how low-income countries should not have access to the vaccine formula because that compromises the safety of the development of the vaccine.
Bill Gates opposes sharing COVID vaccine patents with less wealthy nations so they can manufacture it themselves.
But epidemiologists and public health experts disagree. “Throttling vaccine production globally by [not sharing the patents] is a scandal that affects us all.” pic.twitter.com/kcuRh99KUb
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) April 27, 2021
Bill Gates has been slammed for this statement around the globe, as social media flooded with people condemning his statement and calling him a contributor to the problem of vaccine unavailability. They also found factually incorrect parts in his statement.
Bill Gates is lying in this interview.
When AP looked into this claim a few months ago, it quickly found three factories in Bangladesh, South Africa, and Denmark that could rapidly start producing, but they couldn’t get permission. There are surely more.https://t.co/2iwucnCLO9 https://t.co/2Myuqig229
— Paris Marx (@parismarx) April 27, 2021
Climate Change: Imran Khan also educated him about Pakistan’s billion tree tsunami campaign, on which Bill Gates acknowledged the role Pakistan is playing in the fight against climate change.
Pakistan has a powerful relationship with the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation as they are one of the prime funders of the Ehsaas Programme.
Imran Khan also reaffirmed to Gates that the elimination of polio a top priority for Pakistan and shared statistics about the hard working polio drives around the country.