The battle against Covid is also to be fought in the poorest countries… After calling for global action to fight against the spread of variants, Emmanuel Macron announced in an interview with Financial Times he wants to give or sell to a lower cost 4 to 5% of vaccines purchased by wealthy countries to the poorest countries. Among them (not to say only), countries on the African continent, main preoccupation of the French President.
"This would have no impact on the rhythm of vaccine strategies. It won’t delay it by a single day given the way we use our doses”, he explained. The proposition will be made to G7 members – said to gather this Friday February 19 – and which German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already agreed with, as the President says. All in all, 13 million doses are expected to be sent.
He went on to say: “It’s in the interest of the French and the Europeans. Today I have more than 10 million of our fellow citizens who have families on the other side of the Mediterranean”. The Head of State gave another reason to the donation: “the idea to take hold that hundreds of millions of vaccines are being given in rich countries and that we are not starting in poor countries is unacceptable”. He continues: “It’s an unprecedented acceleration of global inequality and it’s politically unsustainable too because it’s paving the way for a war of influence over vaccines. You can see the Chinese strategy, and the Russian strategy too”.
The measure aims at all countries from all over the globe to be united. “The aim is to get on board the maximum number of European and non-European partners. If this did not happen, France will still commit itself”, he states. Russia, the United-States of America, and China are particularly targeted by the French Head of State. “The mechanism for donating doses is open to the Russians and the Chinese. The Chinese often recall their adherence to multilateralism, they have the opportunity with Covax to prove it, rather than a bilateral approach with a logic of vaccine diplomacy, or even patronage”, he says.
