The Latest: Johnson to Bolsonaro: vaccines save lives

The Latest on the U.N. General Assembly (all times local):

NEW YORK — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stressed the importance of coronavirus vaccines during a meeting with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who says he has not been inoculated.

The two men met Monday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. As journalists were ushered out of the room at the start of the bilateral meeting, Johnson said: “Thanks everybody, get AstraZeneca vaccines.”

Johnson told Bolsonaro: “I’ve had it twice,” referring to the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed at Oxford University.

The Brazilian leader pointed at himself and said “not yet,” then laughed.

In a statement after the meeting, Johnson’s office said the prime minister had “underlined the importance of vaccines as our best tool to fight the virus and save lives around the world, and emphasised the important role the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has played in the U.K, Brazil and elsewhere.”

____

NEW YORK — Leaders, government ministers and other dignitaries from more than 120 countries and international organizations headed to ground zero Monday for a U.N. commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

The U.N. said more than 300 people went to the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum for the ceremony. Memorial President Alice Greenwald called it “a powerful demonstration of global solidarity” with terror victims.

The visitors included Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen; Cyprus’ President Nicos Anastasiades; Guyanese President Irfaan Ali; Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda; Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Zeljko Komsic, the Croat representative in Bosnia’s multiethnic presidency.

They are in New York for this week’s big meeting at the U.N. General Assembly, about four miles (6.5 km) from the site where two hijacked planes plowed into the World Trade Center’s twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Ultimately, nearly 3,000 people from more than 90 countries were killed at the trade center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares urged those gathered at Monday’s tribute to “restate our commitment towards our common collaboration to fight against terrorism and in favor of the victims” as he and the U.N.’s top counterterrorism official, Vladimir Voronkov, laid wreaths.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.