[ad_1]
As EU Heads of State and Government discuss the adjustment of the EU vaccine strategy at the current European Council summit, a comprehensive solution to the epidemic is yet to be reached. An article appeared in the journal Nature on Wednesday, in which Gavin Yamey, a researcher at Duke University in the United States, points out that so far no dose of vaccine has been vaccinated in 130 countries with a total population of 2.5 billion.
As I write these lines, 191 million vaccines against Covid-19 have been registered worldwide; more than three-quarters of the ten countries that account for 60 percent of total world production
Yamey begins. In his article, the researcher also writes that while people in high-income countries make up only 16 percent of the Earth’s population, they own more than half of the coronavirus vaccines.
The phenomenon is particularly troublesome in light of the fact that The Guardian wrote on Thursday: of the approximately 6 million 134,000 doses distributed among the 27 member states of the European Union, approximately 4 million 849,000 have yet to be administered. Although the global vaccination problem was recognized by the international community last year, COVAX cooperation was established to remedy it. The essence of the organization, which is partly served by the World Health Organization, is that the 190 countries that have joined so far make offers of material, thanks to which they order vaccines from manufacturers in large batches, that is, , at lower prices. And the drugs they buy are distributed equally between rich and poor countries. However, as Yamey points out, most rich countries have so far agreed directly with manufacturers.
Thus, COVAX has tied a total of 2 billion doses of vaccine by 2021, while rich countries have already purchased 5.8 billion doses.
The world has not yet recognized it: as long as there is not enough vaccination in all the countries of the world, the old order cannot be restored, the world economy cannot be restarted
– Peter Liese, MEP, has already told the Index. According to a German politician from the European People’s Party (EPP), COVAX is advancing at a slow pace, with years to wait years for global openness. Therefore, Peter Liese began working on a collaboration between the United States and the European Union, the essence of which is to rapidly increase vaccine manufacturing capacity. The biggest realization of the recent period was that it is useless to manufacture a drug on time without adequate production capacity.
Peter Liese plans to move the European and American formulas to South Africa and the second largest country in the world, India.
“Later, other countries with large production capacity, such as Argentina or Mexico, could join the initiative,” a PPE spokesperson continued. The problem, however, is that European and American manufacturers would have to pass on the information they need to do this. However, the exact design of the vaccines is protected by intellectual property, which pharmaceutical companies consider a gold mine during a pandemic.
A compromise must be reached between US and European IP producers and South African and Indian high capacity manufacturers. “
Peter Liese continued. According to the deputy, he has the political will to help the project. In the US White House, Liese found supporters, after which he also piqued the interest of the European Commission. He said that Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EC, also personally supports the initiative.
The idea was first put forward in a background debate in the European Parliament in February. The central theme of the event was the delay in shipments from European pharmaceutical companies, in connection with which Russian and Chinese vaccines were also discussed. Hungary was also mentioned at this point.
Bas Eickhout, the Dutch Green Party MEP, said Vladimir Putin is using the Russian vaccine as a geopolitical tool, in which, unfortunately, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has excellent relations with Russia, is also a partner.
Therefore, an effective global vaccine strategy launched with Western cooperation is also a geopolitical interest, as confirmed by Peter Liese in the Index. However, this requires Western producers to work with non-EU countries in the developing world, which, according to previously published news, is reluctant to do so. The protection of intellectual property and patent trading are also regulated by the World Trade Organization, the WTO.
However, as several people pointed out last year, the so-called TRIPS Agreement is out of date and provides disproportionately high levels of protection for developed countries. This is enormously holding back the achievement of global vaccination, which is why India and South Africa raised last October: it would be necessary to temporarily suspend the convention. However, the proposal has stalled resistance from rich countries. At the time, even the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union opposed the suspension of the convention.
(Cover image: The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will give a press conference on the HERA Incubator program to increase protection against the new type of coronavirus and its mutations in Brussels on February 17, 2021. Photo: MTI / EPA / Pool / Aris Oikonomou)
[ad_2]
