Covid-19: France doubles the number of vaccines promised to poor countries

France will give poor countries 120 million doses of the vaccine against Covid-19, or double what it previously planned, President Emmanuel Macron promised Saturday, September 25.

“The injustice is that in other continents, obviously, vaccination is very late. Because of us, collectively. In Africa, barely 3% of the population is vaccinated. We have to go faster, stronger ”, launched the head of state in a video sequence broadcast during the concert in Paris of the charity organization Global Citizen.

Read the survey: Access to anti-Covid vaccines: the great North-South divide

An announcement that follows that of the United States, Spain and Japan

On Wednesday, United States President Joe Biden also announced a doubling of donations from his country, bringing the total doses promised to poor countries to more than 1.1 billion. “We need other high-income countries to put their ambitious pledges into practice”Mr. Biden said. Spain also announced on Wednesday a donation of 30 million doses in total to developing countries, while Japan increased to 60 million the number of doses it will provide to the world. The European Union (EU), with which the United States intends to cooperate closely, will distribute more than 500 million doses.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a video message to the UN released on Tuesday, said that“Ensuring a fair and equitable distribution of vaccines around the world was a pressing priority”. China hears “Provide a total of 2 billion doses of vaccine to the world by the end of the year”, he said, repeating a figure already given by the Chinese authorities, who do not however specify in what proportion these are sales or donations.

The EU and Washington want to see the birth of an international fund dedicated to international health issues. They also want the establishment of a “Pandemic radar” international to detect future outbreaks of contagion.

According to a database from Agence France-Presse, in the United States, around 55% of the population is fully vaccinated, with the figure exceeding 70% for France and 80% for the United Arab Emirates. But in Cameroon, for example, only 1.4% of the population received at least one dose. The proportion is just over 5.5% in Angola. And it does not exceed 0.35% in Haiti.

Read the interview: “We must vaccinate around 60% of the world’s population to stop the Covid-19 epidemic”

The World with AFP

www.lemonde.fr

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