Anti-Covid vaccination: WHO against bilateral agreements with laboratories
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO in Geneva, October 5, 2020. REUTERS - Christopher Black / WHO
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The WHO may have been calling for international solidarity in the fight against Covid-19 for a year, the message is obviously not getting through.
The World Health Organization denounces the surplus of vaccines made by some rich countries.
They would prevent others from obtaining it in addition to inflating prices.
In the sights: Germany.
But not only.
Publicity
Read more
With our correspondent in Geneva,
Jérémie Lanche
Vaccine nationalism was feared by the WHO.
He is already at work, according to the UN agency.
Of the 42 countries that have started immunizing their populations, only 6 are middle- or low-income countries.
The WHO has nevertheless guaranteed them 2 billion doses of vaccines thanks to its
Covax program
.
But it is bypassed by the rich countries who negotiate directly with the manufacturers.
"
I want vaccine manufacturers to prioritize their deliveries and do so through the Covax program,
" hammered Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
.
And I ask manufacturers and countries to stop placing additional orders at the expense of Covax.
No country is above the others.
No country should defraud the queue to vaccinate its entire population while others have no vaccines.
"
►
Read also: Covid-19: the European Commission doubles its orders for the vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech
The criticism targets
Germany in particular
.
Berlin has ordered 30 million additional doses of the vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech.
While the EU countries have pledged not to negotiate in parallel with the European Commission.
She argued that the order from Berlin was part of the plan negotiated by Brussels.
But the doubt still remains.
The trend remains that of a vaccine race.
A race led by
Israel
which has already vaccinated 20% of its inhabitants.
Europe ensures that it has secured enough doses to vaccinate 80% of its population.
►
See also: Vaccine against Covid-19: the UN calls for equitable access to Covax
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
WHO
Coronavirus
Health and medicine
On the same subject
Covid-19: European Commission doubles orders for Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine
Interview
Anti-Covid vaccine: "very, very difficult" to assess production capacity
So what can we say
Pandemic and poverty do not mix (Replay)