More vaccines, and for everyone | Important proposals …

From Rome

While the World Health Organization says the number of deaths from covid 19 worldwide could be double or triple the official figure of 3,422,907, at the World Health Summit which took place this Friday in Rome , summoned by the Italian government as president of the G20, it was stressed that the pandemic is not over. In addition, there will likely be other waves of infections and the world needs to be vaccinated urgently “because no country will be safe until all are”.

The summit, chaired from Rome by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, resulted in the “Rome Declaration”. The Declaration, according to a sketch circulated among journalists, is a kind of platform for the cooperation of all countries to end the current pandemic and prepare for future ones. It contains 16 principles to defend, such as access for all to vaccines and therapies, the commitment to strengthen health systems that also fight diseases such as malaria, AIDS or tuberculosis. It also proposes the elimination of unjustified trade barriers, because the pandemic has generated a socio-economic crisis and stimulates multilateralism in health. The pandemic will not be over, underlines the text, until all countries are able to bring the virus under control and guarantee vaccinations, our priority, and the return to economic, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.

The statement was fueled not only by those who attended Friday’s summit, but also by the contribution of 26 scientists from around the world released by the European Commission, which stressed the need for investments and measures to be included in the fight against COVID-19. improve prevention to prepare for global health threats. The message is clear: the pandemic will not end if there is no universal access to resources, the scientists said, “it is a moral imperative and a requirement for pandemic control.”

“We need to vaccinate the world and do it quickly,” said Draghi who then added: “As we prepare for the next pandemic, the challenge now is to overcome the current pandemic.” “The first lesson I learned from the pandemic – stressed von der Leyen – is how much we need each other and how many governments have to work with scientists, experts, health workers, pharmaceutical companies and surely with civil society. forget about the scientific community. “

The Rome summit was held virtually and in addition to scientists, health experts and representatives from the financial world and foundations (such as Microsof creator Bill Gates) participated in the morning meeting. Curiously, representatives of three pharmaceutical companies that produce vaccines, all from the United States, also participated in this first meeting; Pfizer-Biontech, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson, who among others said they would deliver 2 billion doses, 995 million and 500 million, respectively, between 2021 and 2022. Pfizer also said the vaccines would be sold at cost to consumers. poor. countries and at a reduced price to countries of average economic situation.

Pharmaceutical companies have not said anything about the possibility of the suspension of vaccine patents, which have been talked about for days, in order to be able to freely produce vaccines anywhere in the world. Italy, Germany and France have come out in favor of the suspension of patents, which could be temporary and voluntary on the part of laboratories. But according to Draghi, this would not be enough to help the poorest countries which must also be supported financially.

Presidents and ministers

In the afternoon, it was the turn of the leaders of several G20 member countries and international entities such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization. Among the leaders are Argentine President Alberto Fernández, US Vice President Kamala Harris, French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa , as well as leaders and ministers from Brazil, Turkey, Rwanda, Singapore, Norway, Democratic Republic of Congo, Switzerland, Australia and Saudi Arabia

“It is essential to ensure equitable access and support to vaccines and medicines”, said President Fernández in his message, also stressing that there is “a negative and disproportionate impact” of the pandemic in developing countries and vulnerable populations.

According to the Vice President of the United States, “the world was not prepared” for covid 19 and we must now prepare for the next pandemic by instituting “a sustainable mechanism to finance health security,” she said. stated in a tacit allusion, among others, It does not include free care in hospitals but requires insurance that the patient must pay. From now on, health security can no longer be in the background but “be at the center of our concerns because it impacts the economy”. The Rome Declaration, concluded Harris, is an “opportunity to work together and we commit.”

Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, spoke of exploiting the Rome declaration to create a “collective defense against future health threats, as we have done against military threats”, that is to say to create a sort of “global network of health surveillance centers can function as a global pandemic radar,” he said.

For French President Emmanuel Macron, whenever intellectual property is an obstacle to production, a decision must be made as it was during the AIDS epidemic. If this decision implies that it is necessary to take measures or modify the general conditions of intellectual property, he indicated that he would agree to modify them. Macron in turn criticized European countries for stocking vaccines when many other poor countries need them. France, he said, will donate 30 million doses of different vaccines by the end of the year to countries in need, and recalled that currently a third of the European population has already been vaccinated while in poor countries the vaccinated are only 0, 2 percent.

China, through President Xi Jinping, has proposed to create an international forum on cooperation in the field of vaccines in which countries around the world can participate and where a more equitable distribution of the vaccine can be promoted.

The Rome summit was held a few days before the 74th World Health Assembly (May 24 to June 1), – the legislative body of the WHO – in Geneva, during which an attempt will be made to reform WHO, to improve its health response and coordination capacity and its capacity to prevent future epidemics