Faced with the coronavirus, "no one is safe until everyone is safe," warns the president of the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), calling for global solidarity on the eve of a virtual summit. intended to raise funds for vaccination in general.
Since the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, researchers around the world have been working hard to find a vaccine against the virus that has already killed some 380,000 people. For Seth Berkley, head of Gavi, the international community must ensure that all countries will have access to the potential future vaccine, whatever their resources.
Two billion against the Covid, a start
"It is a global problem that requires a global solution and we must all work together," he insisted just before the virtual donors' conference on Thursday hosted by the UK.
The Alliance hopes to raise 7.4 billion dollars to continue the global vaccination campaigns against measles, polio or typhoid, largely disrupted by the epidemic. For the Covid-19, the goal is to raise $ 2 billion, which would only be a start, notes Seth Berkley while negotiations with manufacturers are just beginning.
Disrupted vaccination campaigns
For Seth Berkley, countries must share access to vaccines, which is not only a humanitarian and egalitarian issue, but also of global public health. “No one is safe until everyone is safe. The virus has spread from a place near Wuhan to 180 countries around the world in less than three months, "including islands and remote locations," he said.
WHO, UNICEF and Gavi warned last month that the pandemic could jeopardize immunization campaigns in 70 countries, threatening some 80 million children under the age of one. Polio eradication efforts have been halted in dozens of countries, and measles vaccination has stopped in 27 countries, UNICEF said.
Unprecedented conspiracy theories
The funds raised on Thursday are planned for a period of five years during which the Alliance hopes to relaunch vaccination programs in the countries where it works by providing cheaper access to vaccines, with the aim of reaching 300 million children.
Despite the major economic crisis caused by the pandemic and the measures to combat it, Seth Berkley is "reasonably optimistic" about the possibility of achieving the objectives. However, he feared the deleterious effects of the “unprecedented” volume of rumors and conspiracy theories that circulate today around vaccines, especially in the northern hemisphere. "The distrust between the population and their government, rumors and the deliberate dissemination of false information are not only at their highest level, they are also amplified by social networks which did not exist 20 years ago", he worries. "A perfect combination of problems".
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