Coronavirus: first vaccine thanks to Covax in Ghana - France 24

Accra (AFP)

The Ghanaian president on Monday became the first person in the world to receive an injection of the Covid-19 vaccine thanks to the Covax device aimed at low-income countries, as the battle for access to vaccines divides the WTO.

Around the world, vaccination campaigns are accelerating in the face of the pandemic which has resumed its progression and has killed at least 2,531,448 people around the world, according to a report established by AFP on Monday.

While most rich countries have already vaccinated a large part of their population by purchasing the vaccine directly from producers, Ghana on Wednesday became the first nation in the world to receive doses funded by the Covax device.

Its president Nana Akufo-Addo, 76, received a first injection of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine.

"It is important that I lead by example and show that this vaccine is safe by being the first person to receive it," he said.

The Covax system aims to provide anti-Covid vaccines to 20% of the population of nearly 200 countries and territories this year, but above all it includes a funding mechanism that allows 92 low- and middle-income economies to have access to precious doses.

The pandemic has deepened the divide between rich and poor countries, and several British associations specializing in international aid warned on Monday of the risk of an increase in famine and humanitarian crisis in certain fragile countries, such as Yemen. .

At the same time, many voices are calling for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to lift patent protections on anti-Covid vaccines to increase their production, an unprecedented demand denounced by laboratories.

This proposal, which is far from reaching a consensus, is to be debated during the WTO General Council on Monday and Tuesday.

- "Hold" 4 to 6 weeks -

So far, more than 244 million doses of antiCovid vaccines have been administered in at least 123 countries or territories, according to a count by AFP on Monday.

And the population's support for the Covid-19 vaccine is on the rise in several countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States or even the very skeptical France, according to an international study published on Monday by the Kekst CNC firm.

Four million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine approved by US health authorities will be distributed on Tuesday in the United States, the country most affected both in terms of number of deaths and cases, with 513,092 deaths for 28,605,953 cases identified.

In the EU, this vaccine should be approved by the European Medicines Agency in early March, and distributed from late March or early April, according to French Minister for Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher.

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was vaccinated against Covid-19 on Monday, unlike thousands of applicants who had made hospital appointments through a flawed app.

India has set itself the ambitious goal of vaccinating 300 million people by the end of June, but has so far immunized only 14 million, mostly health workers and security forces.

The Philippines began administering the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine on Monday, while Bali launched a drive-thru vaccination campaign.

At the same time, concern is growing with the spread of new variants.

The British authorities have thus launched an appeal to find a person who imported into the United Kingdom the variant of the coronavirus detected in Brazil, likely to be more resistant than others to vaccines.

The pandemic has claimed nearly 123,000 lives in the UK and the government intends to protect the benefit of the massive campaign that has vaccinated more than 20 million people with a first dose and the sacrifices made by the British, who have lived since the beginning January their third confinement.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron called on Monday to "hold" another "4 to 6 weeks" before being able to loosen certain constraints.

For their part, New Zealanders are showing themselves to be less disciplined: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged her compatriots to "reprimand" those violating the restrictions linked to Covid-19 as anger mounts over a series of 'offenses that forced Auckland to be confined again.

© 2021 AFP