The fight for vaccine distribution is already not disguised, with complaints from Celac, the Red Cross and the Vatican

Once the possible doubts about the effectiveness of the various COVID-19 vaccines have been evacuated in principle and with nuances, the questions to be resolved in the future seem limited to the need to increase production and the urgency to achieve fairness in distribution, a point on which health and political organizations are already talking openly and with complaints to the most powerful countries.

What remains visible, according to studies and statistics, is that with vaccines, the pattern of world power is repeated in a certain way: the most economically powerful countries have bought almost all of the doses that will be produced in 2021 and the poorest will not even manage to vaccinate their populations at risk.

The move does not seem very smart: A study from Duke University in the United States reported in a BBC note on how vaccines are distributed warns of another serious danger to public health around the world.

Experts consider that, If the current distribution system continues as it goes, the virus could continue to mutate and render current vaccines ineffective.

“The main concern is that low- and middle-income countries will simply not have enough vaccines and people living in rich countries will be protected while the virus spreads to poorer countries. If it develops in this way, we will all suffer more. , both in terms of health and economic impact, ”explained Andrea Taylor, head of the survey.

Resentments are no longer hidden: as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) questioned “the creation of mechanisms limiting exports of vaccines and medical supplies to third countries, such as the one created by the ‘European Union,’ the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has warned that 70% of doses against the coronavirus are being administered in richer countries.

The Vatican added a similar statement: it asked to “promote” local vaccine production in Latin America, Africa and Asia, and “relieve” the debt of the poorest countries to free up funds to strengthen their health systems.

Despite everything, the week also had some good ones in store: first, the worldwide scientific validation of the Russian Sputnik V, and the announcement of an increase in its production abroad; second, the fact that Latin America will receive more than 31 million doses through the Covax system, the coalition led by the World Health Organization (WHO) to seek a more equitable distribution of these drugs.

But Celac’s statement was rather a novelty, in principle because the organization – which brings together all the countries of the continent except the United States and Canada – does not have a very active life, but also because of a in a way it raises a “continent against continent” and a severe complaint.

The regional organization demanded that UN General Assembly resolution 74/274 be respected “In which there is a call to strengthen supply chains that promote and ensure universal, fair, transparent, equitable, efficient and timely access to drugs, vaccines and medical supplies to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In a brief statement, he called on “the international community to avoid measures that prevent a global response to COVID-19, based on unity, solidarity, political consensus and multilateral cooperation in the new post-pandemic normal” .

Those responsible for the initiative Covax They said almost all of the doses he expects to deliver in this initial phase are vaccine from the Swedish-British laboratory AstraZeneca and its Indian partner, the Serum Institute, and For the Latin American region, it is planned to distribute 31,890,110 doses.

Another novelty was the open chance that Sputnik could start being produced in other countries “in the very near future” in order to “meet the growing demand from more and more countries”, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov.

Scientific journal The Lancet This week published a study on the high degree of effectiveness of the drug – 91.6% compared to symptomatic forms of coronavirus – approved in just over 15 countries and awaiting authorization from the European Medicines Agency ( EMA).

Russia has announced that it wants to accept that other countries produce its vaccine which, for now, is manufactured in Brazil, India, South Korea and Kazakhstan, while there is an agreement to make similarly in Iran and Turkey, it is advancing with China and discussing with Germany.

The International Federation’s complaint rings in the background, with its overwhelming figure that 70% of doses were administered in the richest countries, a situation it deemed “alarming and unfair”. He showed an even worse number: the 50 poorest countries in the world administered only 0.1% of available doses.

“In the race to end this pandemic, we are all rowing in the same boat. We cannot sacrifice those who are most at risk in some countries so that those who are most at risk can be vaccinated in others. . “, alerted the secretary general of the organization, Jagan Chapagain.

Watched with suspicion around the world, given reports that it has already achieved a number of doses well above its population, Canada has pledged this week that it will produce its own vaccine no later than the end of this year.

The obscene build-up of purchases in Canada, which eroded the progressive cartel of Justin Trudeau’s tenure, resonated the announcement particularly.

Ottawa somehow works with the logic of the scientist Taylor: “Suppose I am the premier of a very wealthy nation. What argument would convince me not to buy enough doses to vaccinate my entire population, because in doing so, other less developed countries will not. have access to this vaccine? Why should I care about it instead of vaccinating all my fellow citizens? This is an argument for self-preservation. that other countries also have access to the vaccine, you ensure the success of yours. “. (Telam)