The "organization" needs 26 billion dollars to accelerate the deployment of control tools

"World Health" warns of the widening gap between the rich and the poor regarding the vaccine

The World Health Organization called for not acting on the basis of nationalism in the field of vaccines.

Reuters

The World Health Organization warned yesterday that the gap between the rich and the poor regarding access to vaccines is widening, indicating that it still needs $ 26 billion for its mechanism aimed at accelerating the spread of tools to combat "Covid-19" in the world.

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “As we speak now, the rich countries publish vaccines, while the less developed countries just watch and wait.”

He stressed that "nationalism in the field of vaccines may serve political goals in the short term, but the economic interest of every nation in the medium and long terms dictates support for equal access to vaccines."

Tedros pointed to a new study by the Research Fund of the International Chamber of Commerce, which represents 45 million companies in more than 100 countries.

He said that acting on the basis of "nationalism in the field of vaccines, it may cost the global economy up to 9200 billion dollars, and half of this amount, or 4,500 billion dollars, will be incurred by the wealthier economies."

The report added that the financial damages in rich countries cannot be repaired unless the repercussions of the crisis in developing countries are addressed, given the interconnectedness of economies among themselves around the world.

Ghebreyesus stressed that investing in the "Act Accelerator" program - the mechanism aimed at accelerating the development and production of diagnostic supplies, treatments and vaccines against the emerging corona virus, and ensuring their equitable distribution - is not charitable work but simply "economic logic."

He said that a year ago, the World Health Organization had been notified of less than 1,500 cases of "Covid-19", including only 23 cases outside China in which the first foci of the virus were detected, and more than 2.1 million deaths were recorded since that period. Tedros, saying: "This week, we expect to reach 100 million registered cases."

He believed that "the numbers can be shocking to what they symbolize. Every death is related to someone's father, partner, son, or friend," and stressed that "vaccines give us hope, and for this reason every life we ​​lose now is a greater tragedy. He urged people to adhere to the rules of social distancing, wash hands, avoid gatherings, and wear masks while they wait for their turn to receive the vaccine.

The director of emergency programs in the organization, Michael Ryan, said that only one disease, smallpox, has been eliminated, so the availability of vaccines against "Covid-19" does not mean that the disease can be eradicated from the face of the earth.

He explained that "the level of success is reducing the ability of the virus to kill people, admit them to hospital, and destroy our economic and social lives."

For his part, the head of the Act Accelerator Program, Bruce Aylward, said that the purpose of vaccination is to reduce the risks of the epidemic by the end of 2021.

"But that will require difficult decisions to be made about our fair use and distribution, which is currently a rare product, and will remain so for a few months to come," he added.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, yesterday, after announcing a delay in the delivery of vaccines against "Covid-19" to Europe, warned that vaccine manufacturers must "fulfill their promises and implement their commitments", especially since they have benefited from huge European investments, and she said. In a video intervention during the World Economic Forum in Davos: "Europe invested billions to develop the first vaccines, and to ensure a real global benefit," and added: "And now companies must fulfill their promises and fulfill their commitments."

The Commission wants answers from the British-Swedish group AstraZeneca and the US "Pfizer" regarding the delay in delivering vaccines to the European Union.

In an indication of concern that pharmaceutical industry groups may be selling vaccines intended for the European Union to parties paying more outside of it, the Commission is seeking to compel companies to inform the authorities about any exports outside the Union.

In her speech, von der Leyen emphasized the initiative, saying: "We will establish a transparent mechanism for exporting the vaccine" in order to "ensure" that companies fulfill their contractual obligations towards the European Union.

In her speech, von der Leyen said that the Commission’s mechanism for distributing the vaccine is not only intended for the European Union, but for poorer countries outside the Union, which obtain vaccines through the "Kovacs" coalition led by the World Health Organization.

As part of a long-term strategy to address the current and future health crises, von der Leyen said that the European Union will propose the creation of a private and public sector entity, under a new European body to respond to health emergencies.

This comes at a time when a group of experts of the World Health Organization on vaccines announced yesterday that the second dose of Moderna vaccine against "Covid-19" can be given within a period of up to six weeks after the first dose in exceptional circumstances, and the strategic advisory group of experts recommended By giving Modrina vaccine with a difference of 28 days between the two doses, but she said that the second dose "may be postponed for 42 days" in the event that exceptional circumstances arise associated with the massive spread of the epidemic in a country or a shortage of vaccines.

WHO experts: The delay between two doses of the "Moderna" vaccine can be up to six weeks.

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