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Of: TT
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Photograph: Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP / TT
Residents of Uttar Pradesh, India, are waiting to be tested for covid-19, it remains to be seen how long they will have to wait to receive a vaccine. Stock Photography.
The global vaccine race is in full swing, and for some countries everything is going against everything that is applied. The United States does not want to support the WHO project to make a vaccine more accessible, and China has only been waiting for that recently.
– I was hoping that large countries would participate, says Swedish vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström to TT.
“No one is safe until everyone is safe. A global threat requires global action,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a written comment to TT about its Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) project.
Covax, led by the WHO in conjunction with the charities Gavi and CEPI, is an attempt to secure global access to a future corona vaccine. To date, almost 170 countries have joined the project, both large and small economies.
The project’s goal is, among other things, that two billion doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine can be delivered by the end of next year.
“The fact that so many countries have joined so far is a great success. Our challenge now is that time is short, we need a significant escalation of political and financial support from the countries of the world,” continues WHO.
Before China joined a couple of days ago, about SEK 30 billion had been raised for the efforts, but it was estimated that an additional SEK 200 billion would be needed in the future.
Not everyone supports
Sweden is one of the countries that participates and contributes financially to the project through the EU. The European Commission has so far contributed more than SEK 2 billion.
The United States and Russia have so far refused to contribute to Covax.
– I was hoping that big countries would participate, but at the same time I understand that these are politically difficult decisions, says Swedish vaccine coordinator Richard Bergström, before China joined.
The EU has also been criticized for its lack of commitment, even though the union contributes financially to Covax, the procurement of vaccines for the EU, and therefore Sweden, manages itself.
– We could not sit here and wait, but we had to act to make sure that there would be doses for our own residents, so they have done it with a global idea in mind, explains Richard Bergström.
– So far, the EU has signed agreements with two companies; Astra Zeneca and Sanofi, but five more are on the way. Five of these seven are in phase 3, so far it looks promising.
“Global solidarity”
However, despite international differences, the vaccine coordinator is cautiously positive about the possibilities of obtaining a vaccine available globally.
– I think it is probably within everyone’s reach, we have many countries with extensive experience of engagement with global public health, he says.
TT: Do you understand the criticism of the EU?
– I understand, but I think the criticism is partially misdirected. By contributing to Covax, we are showing global solidarity, I think the EU is doing a lot in that regard. Much more than countries like the United States.
– The EU deliberately buys in more doses than it needs, you can see that if you merge the agreements that have now been signed. The idea is that these doses are passed on to those countries that can pay but did not have time to sign their own agreements.
And it’s not just about vaccine doses.
Richard Bergström points out that a potential big obstacle for all countries in the world to vaccinate their citizens is the lack of capacity to care for and distribute the vaccine correctly.
– If vaccines work and we share them, will you be able to handle them practically? This can be a problem in large countries like Brazil. I think more energy should be put into that issue, he says.
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