According to AFP Paris on January 26, rich countries have left the most part of the competition for coronavirus vaccines, accounting for nearly 70% of the world’s existing vaccine doses, but no poor country has begun to launch large-scale vaccinations.
WHO Director-General Tedros warned Monday that “rich countries are deploying vaccinations while those least developed countries are waiting and seeing”, while he condemned “vaccine nationalism”.
According to official statistics at 16:00 GMT on Tuesday, at least 47.5 million of the more than 69 million doses of vaccines have been injected globally are in high-income countries.
Vaccination campaigns have begun in 49 high-income countries, mainly located in North America, Europe and the Gulf region.
Among them, Israel ranks first, with at least 31% of the population being vaccinated against one shot. The UK (about 10% of the population has been vaccinated) and the United States (nearly 6% of the population) are also ahead.
The report pointed out that no low-income country has started mass vaccination.
Among the countries in this class, Guinea is considered a pioneer in vacculating dozens of people during the pilot phase.
It is reported that WHO and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization have finalized a COVID-19 vaccine implementation plan aimed at providing vaccines to poor countries, but no vaccines have been distributed.
Between now and the end of the year, billions of dollars are still missing to reach the goal of providing vaccines to 20% of the population in participating countries.
German Chancellor Merkel urged the global “fair” distribution of coronavirus vaccines on Tuesday, and warned that countries that do not have access to life-saving vaccines will never forget this matter, AFP Berlin on January 26.
She said on an online forum: “In a time of vaccine scarcity, money is one thing, and the availability of vaccines is another.
It’s about fair distribution, not money.”
“Let’s not deceive ourselves, and the question of who gets which vaccine in the world will certainly leave new wounds and memories, because those who get emergency help will remember that.”
The report said that in the context of global competition for vaccines, countries, especially developing countries, are increasingly having to weigh diplomatic and logistics factors when placing vaccine orders.
The report also said that developed countries have so far approved only vaccines produced by Western manufacturers, while many developing countries have turned to Chinese or Russian coronavirus vaccines.
South African President Ramaphosa slammed “vaccine nationalism” on Tuesday, accusing rich countries of buying and hoarding coronavirus vaccines in large quantities, to the detriment of other countries, the report pointed out.
