South African President slams rich countries for grabbing Covid vaccines
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on April 24, 2020 in Johannesburg.
REUTERS - POOL New
Text by: RFI Follow
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Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Cyril Ramaphosa warned against any nationalism in vaccine acquisition strategies.
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“
The rich countries of this world have bought very large quantities of vaccines.
Some, four times more than what they need,
”lamented the South African president, whose country is the most affected on the continent by the Covid epidemic with more than 1.4 million cases and 41,000 deaths.
While vaccination campaigns have started across the world, South Africa is still awaiting its first vaccines.
1.5 million doses have been purchased from an Indian laboratory and are expected to be delivered in the coming days.
Barely enough to vaccinate half of health professionals.
► Read also:
Covid-19: South Africa wants to vaccinate 67% of its population in 2021
For the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, we need equitable access to vaccines.
"
We tell them:
" make available surplus doses you ordered and set aside There is absolutely no reason why a country of 40 million people bought 120 million doses.
.
This is done to the detriment of some countries that need it most ".
"
A call that echoes the warnings of the World Health Organization.
Its director had already called on rich countries not to "
cut the line
".
And make their excess doses available to poor countries through the Covax mechanism.
This WHO mechanism should make it possible to vaccinate 20% of the population of the African continent before the end of the year.
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