WHO lauds new commitments from US, EU countries on vaccine equity
Geneva, Feb 19 (efe-epa).- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday praised countries such as the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom after they announced new commitments to the COVAX program for the global delivery of antiviral vaccines, bringing the organisation closer to the goal of getting them to the entire planet.
“There is a growing movement behind vaccine equity and I welcome that world leaders are stepping up to the challenge,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
The director general made the remarks as the first 50 days of 2021 and with it the halfway point of the deadline set by WHO to try to achieve its goal of 100 days for the vaccine to have reached every country on the planet.
“This can’t be business as usual and there is an urgent need for countries to share doses and technology, scale up manufacturing and ensure that there is a sustainable supply of vaccines so that everyone, everywhere can receive a vaccine,” the Ethiopian said.
The United States announced on Thursday that it will “immediately” donate $2 billion for the development and equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines globally, and will provide an additional $2 billion in the coming months, in a bid to take international leadership against the pandemic.
With the new administration presided over by Joe Biden, the United States joined COVAX at the end of January, in a 180-degree turn from the policy of the previous president, Donald Trump, who went so far as to initiate the process of his country’s departure from the WHO. EFE-EPA
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