US Treasury Secretary warned slow vaccination campaigns in poor countries threaten global economy

United States Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, on Monday called on developed countries to increase levels of health and economic assistance to developing countries, warning that the slowness of vaccination campaigns in the latter could pose a threat not only to their economic recovery, but to that of the whole world.

In statements made in Chicago to the World Affairs Council, the official based her statement on statistics that highlight the possibility that up to 150 million people fall into poverty due to the economic crises caused by the pandemic.

“It would represent a profound economic tragedy for these countries and we should be concerned about it. But it is obvious. What is less obvious – but no less true – is that this discrepancy (between how quickly countries inoculate their populations) would also be a problem for the United States.», He indicated.

And I add: “Our main task clearly must be to stop the virus by ensuring that vaccines, therapies and tests have the highest level of availability possible.“.

According to statistics from sites specializing in monitoring the production, distribution and application of different inoculants worldwide, many countries could not cover a large part of their population until 2023 or 2024.

On the other hand, for example, The United States would cover 75 percent of its population at the current vaccination rate in the next three months, the United Kingdom would cover it in 5 and the European Union total in a year..

However, measures that could help achieve the goals mentioned by Yellen more quickly are met with reluctance from several developed countries.

Joe Biden’s own administration has so far resisted lifting intellectual property restrictions that would increase vaccine production globally, despite a March 26 report that said the possibility is being investigated in the White House.

An initiative of this nature presented to the World Trade Organization (WTO) by India and South Africa It was rejected by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, among others, who assured that the measure would undermine the development of the pharmaceutical industry. by removing incentives to invest in research and development.

The decision, like the current uneven distribution of vaccines around the world, has been described as “grotesqueBy the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“In January, I declared that the world was on the brink of catastrophic moral failure if urgent action was not taken to ensure equitable distribution of anti-ovidic vaccines. We have the means to avoid this failure, but it is surprising how little has been done to prevent it.“, He declared during a press conference at the end of March.

“The gap between the number of vaccines administered in rich countries and those applied via COVAX [el mecanismo de la OMS para abastecer a países pobres] it continues to grow, and it becomes more and more grotesque every day, ”he said at the time.

Four days later, authorities warned of delays in vaccine distribution because India, which makes inoculants developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford and used in the program, would prioritize its domestic demand in the face of an increase in cases locally.

A WHO statement noted that COVAX has informed participants who have been assigned doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine that some of the first deliveries scheduled for March will now take place in April.

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