مجلس نيوز | majlis-news
The World Health Organization warned Monday 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.
“Nationalism in the field of vaccines could cost the global economy dearly, amounting to $ 9200 billion,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, citing a new study by the International Chamber of Commerce.
“About half of this amount, or 4,500 billion dollars, will be incurred by the wealthier economies,” he added.
Ghebreyesus said during a press conference that the mechanism for “Accelerating Access to Tools to Combat Covid-19” (Act Accelerator) still needs 26 billion dollars (21.4 billion euros) in 2021.
This mechanism was launched at the end of April 2020 during a ceremony organized by Ghebreyesus, French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and it aims to accelerate the development and production of diagnostic supplies, treatments and vaccines against the emerging corona virus, and to ensure their fair distribution.
Ghebreyesus 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 term dictates support for equal access to vaccines.”
“As long as we do not put an end to the epidemic everywhere, we will not put an end to it,” he added.
“As we speak now, rich countries are deploying vaccines, while less developed countries are watching and waiting. And every day that passes by, the gap between the rich and the poor increases,” he concluded.