By Carlos Arellán – Feb 17, 2021
Mexico will bring an important issue before the United Nations Security Council: the hoarding of anti-COVID-19 vaccines by the richest nations.
The initiative was confirmed on Tuesday by Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who said: “Tomorrow we are going to present to the UN Security Council the position of Mexico and Latin America regarding what is happening in the world: inequality, the inequity of access to vaccines.”
Additionally, he spelled out that this situation is causing a lag in our region in terms of the immunization process. He pointed out that, “the countries that produce it have very high vaccination rates and Latin America and the Caribbean, much lower.”
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For Mexican diplomacy, this struggle of who is saved first “is not fair,” since the richest countries first access the antidote, and in addition they monopolize what the rest of the world needs.
Mexico and the pandemic
Mexico is fourth on the planet with the most deaths due to the pandemic. The number of victims exceeds 174,000 people, while the country is already close to 2 million infections.
Mexico highlighted that the Pfizer company has lagged behind in its deliveries of the antigen to the country. This threatens the pace of the vaccination program and the fact that the US pharmaceutical company would only be producing vaccines for domestic demand was also denounced
The government of López Obrador has proposed the purchase of at least 232 million vaccines. In the process, he has signed agreements for the production of the antidote in his country, as well as the purchase of those produced by Russia, China and the doses of AstraZeneca manufactured in India.
The Mexican president also emphasized that the intention to file the complaint against the hoarding of vaccines with the UN is “so that there is equity.”
Featured image: Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau explaining why they took vaccines from a UN fund dedicated to provide them to low-income countries (COVAX). Canada has been heavily criticized for hoarding anti-COVID-19 vaccines. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/OH
