Covid-19: The vaccine gap is widening

Audio 03:20

Tunisia is experiencing difficulties launching its Covid-19 vaccination program, as the country's hospitals are saturated with many new cases.

© FETHI BELAID / AFP

By: Anne Verdaguer Follow

7 mins

Immunization equality is at the heart of a conference organized by the WHO and the World Trade Organization.

The subject is all the more hot as the pandemic is far from being under control, with the worrying progression of the Delta variant.

The challenge is both to increase the production of vaccines and to distribute them more equitably.

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Vaccination remains very uneven around the world, and the Delta variant is causing epidemic outbreaks in parts of Asia and Africa in particular.

The international COVAX partnership, which aims to guarantee access to vaccines for the poorest countries, is working but at a still far too low a rate.

The G7 countries announced at their last meeting that they will donate 870 million doses, mainly through COVAX.

France, she announced this week that it would send more than a million doses of vaccines to Tunisia, a country ravaged by the epidemic, with the death rate linked to Covid-19 the highest of all the African continent.

A growing divide between countries 

There is an economic gap between the countries where we vaccinate the most, such as the United States where growth is expected around 6.8% this year, and the countries where there are delays in distribution. doses.

In the 29 poorest economies, 23 of which are in Africa, only 0.3% of the population received a dose of the vaccine.

Their combined GDP will be only 2.9% this year, instead of the 3.4% announced six months ago, according to

The Economist

.

It will be their second worst performance in two decades.

The worst being that of 2020.

Finally, another shadow on the table, hunger which is increasing in the world by 18% over one year according to the FAO, the UN agency for agriculture and food which fears long-term effects on food security global.

The vaccine has become an economic weapon

Just like in the 1970s, when oil carried the global economy, today the vaccine against the Covid has become a vital commodity.

These vaccines are produced by a handful of countries which are eager to set up health passes in the face of the Delta variant, as is the case from today in France.

This variant is present in 104 countries according to the WHO.

The boss of the World Health Organization denounces for his part the lack of solidarity and the greed of those who are already thinking about the injection of a third dose of anti-Covid vaccine.

Some countries are ordering millions of booster doses while others have not been able to immunize their healthcare workers and the most vulnerable parts of the population, the organization adds.

She explains that there is no scientific evidence to suggest the need for a third dose of the vaccine.

Delta variant wreaks havoc on stock exchanges

At the start of the week, the major stock exchanges in Europe lost more than 2%, for fear of a spread of this Delta variant.

Investors fear a less significant economic recovery than expected, and the volatility index has reached its highest level in 2 months, at 22%.

Sectors sensitive to the economic situation such as air transport and hotels and restaurants, which have suffered particularly, have loosened.

Doubts persist as to a return to normalcy, a sign that investors have not yet learned to live with Covid-19.

However, the markets will have to integrate this situation while the coronavirus seems to be here to last.

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