Many countries came together on Friday to launch a “historic” global initiative, under the aegis of the UN, to accelerate the production of vaccines, treatments and tests against the Covid-19 epidemic. Objective: to ensure equitable access to these medical solutions worldwide.
This initiative presented during a virtual press conference brings together many countries, international organizations including
the World Health Organization (WHO), foundations and private companies. "This is a historic collaboration to accelerate the development, production and equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics and treatments for Covid-19," said WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "Our common commitment is to ensure that everyone has access to all the instruments aimed at triumphing over the Covid-19," he added.
An affordable, safe and universal vaccine
Other speakers included French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian heads of government Giuseppe Conte and Spanish Pedro Sanchez, as well as President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
Emmanuel Macron called for making a vaccine “accessible everywhere, including in the most vulnerable countries. It is also what will allow us to return to normal life as quickly as possible ”. Overcoming the new coronavirus pandemic requires "the most massive public health effort in history," warned United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
"The world needs to develop, produce and ensure equitable distribution" of vaccines and treatments when they become available, "not a vaccine or treatment for a country or region or half the world - but a vaccine and treatment that is affordable, safe, effective, easy to administer, and universally available - for everyone, everywhere, ”he said.
The United States and China absent
The concern comes in particular from the poorest countries which do not have the financial means to compete with the richest in the race for the acquisition of stocks of vaccines, drugs or diagnostic kits. This inequality in access has already been encountered in previous epidemics and "we cannot accept that it will happen again" in the face of the current crisis, warned the boss of the WHO.
Neither China, where the first cases of the new coronavirus were announced at the end of December, nor the United States, today the epicenter of the pandemic with nearly 50,000 deaths and 900,000 cases, were not represented. To date, the pandemic has killed more than 190,000 people worldwide and 2.7 million people have been officially infected, according to the AFP count.
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