By Lan Xinzhen

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic， the opening of the 74th session of the World Health Assembly （WHA） took place via video link on May 24. The assembly highlighted such issues as pandemic responses， the World Health Organization（WHO） reforms and budgets， among other topics.

However， even before the convening of the assembly， certain countries had already claimed they would file a request with WHO to investigate China regarding the origin of the novel coronavirus. They intended to use WHO as a tool to mount political pressure， for example by proposing to allow Chinas Taiwan to attend the assembly， which only allows sovereign countries and regions to participate， and seriously violated Chinas territorial sovereignty.

Although WHO was somewhat distracted by these disruptions， on the whole， it was able to stick to its original agenda， without falling into the U.S. trap.

Common desire

During the WHA， WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for affirmative action from all sides to increase accessibility to vaccines and end the pandemic as quickly as possible. Representatives from many nations thanked China for offering vaccines and assistance in the fight against the coronavirus， and assembly topics covered public health emergency prevention and drug resistance. Their remarks boiled down to the common aspiration of the international community： To put an end to the pandemic as soon as possible.

For more than a year the ravaging pandemic has been taking a heavy toll on society. To rein in the virus， the most effective practice is the worldwide rollout of coronavirus vaccines to build up a shield against the virus.

The most pressing problem now is the inequality in vaccine distribution. In the mindset of vaccine nationalism， some countries have hoarded large amounts of vaccines， storing them in warehouses and in doing so hampering the largescale rollout of the jabs. WHO statistics reveal that 75 percent of the worlds total coronavirus vaccines are currently held by 10 countries， whilst vaccinations in the lowest-income countries account for less than 0.5 percent of the worlds total. This will not help with an early containment of the virus.

In his speech delivered at the Global Health Summit on May 21， Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed the aspiration and concept of building a global community of health for all. Guided by this concept， China has already distributed 300 million doses of vaccines to the rest of the world， making it the biggest provider of all. The country is now ready to， within the limits of its power， offer more doses to those in need.