Covid-19 has recorded almost 2.6 million deaths so far, and almost 117 million people have been infected. However, healthcare is used as a business instead of saving lives.
Requests to provide universal access to the immunizing agents have been made since last December when the vaccine started being administered in several countries. However, despite initiatives such as Covax, the vaccine continues to be a fantasy for the people in the South.
Before Covid-19, the illness responsible for almost 2.6 million deaths on five continents, no one opposed publicly universal vaccinations.
However, the figures show the egoistic views and excessive ambitions of those who make healthcare a business.
The appeal to make vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus a public asset resounded at the Unesco and the Human Rights Council, multilateral forums where various voices called for an inclusive access to them.
During the videoconference for the 46th session of the council, based in Geneva, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that even though global equality in access to vaccines reinforces human rights, the nationalism on this issue denies them.
According to Guterres, 10 countries account for 75% of the administration of the immunizing agents created to fight the Covid-19 pathogen.
At the same high-level segment of the Human Rights Council meeting, the Chancellor for Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez, highlighted that the world watches how the richer countries are trying to hoard the resources to fight the pandemic.
He stressed that “favouring petty interests over the general well-being will increase suffering and death, even in the industrialised countries. Global cooperation is urgent. It is necessary to fight for establishing an international order that is just, democratic and equal for all”.
The president of the United Nations General Assembly also defended the equal distribution of the vaccines that represent hope in neutralising the dangerous virus.
During a Unesco forum on science ethics, Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of the body, remembered that “when vaccination campaigns were announced around the globe, everyone was relieved. However, without solidarity, we are far from achieving our goal.”
According to the official, more than 130 countries have not yet received a single dose and, so far, the most vulnerable are not protected.
Some of the wealthier nations managed to get hold of enough vaccines to protect all their citizens twice, three or five times over, recalled the multilateral body, that praised G7’s decision to support the most vulnerable states, which called for an effective supply of these products.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation stated that “the pandemic will not be over if it’s not eradicated everywhere (…) Equal distribution of the vaccines is not only the right thing to do, but also the best way to control the pandemic, retore confidence and restart the global economy”. (PL)
(Translated by Cristina Popa – Email: gcpopa83@gmail.com) – Photos: Pixabay
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