PARIS – France will double the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses sent to poorer countries to 120 million, pledged President Emmanuel Macron yesterday in a video broadcast during the Global Citizen concert here.
“The injustice is that, in other continents, obviously, vaccination is very late. We have to go faster, stronger.
“France pledges to double the number of doses it is giving. We will pass from 60 million to 120 million doses offered.”
This amounts to more than the doses administered in France so far, he said.
On Wednesday, the United States said it will double its donation of vaccine doses, bringing its total contribution to 1.1 billion.
President Joe Biden described the pandemic as an “all-hands-on-deck crisis”, adding that “we need other high-income countries to deliver on their own ambitions”.
The European Union has committed to distributing 500 million doses.
And, China’s President Xi Jinping, in a video message broadcast to the United Nations on Tuesday, pledged a total of two billion doses by year-end, repeating a figure already given by Chinese authorities.
It was not made clear how many of those will be sold, and how many donated.
More money for Africa
In his statement, Macron said France will work with UN children’s organisation Unicef in its efforts to help African countries organise their vaccination roll-out.
France will also redirect 20% of the special funding it received from the International Monetary Fund towards projects designed to restart the economies of African countries, he said.
“If all the major powers do the same as France, we will reach US$100 billion (RM418.8 billion) for Africa.”
Finally, he vowed that France will spend €330 million (RM1.6 billion) to promote education in the country.
World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has repeatedly denounced the injustice of the massive imbalance in the distribution of vaccine doses in rich and poor countries.
“I will not stay silent when the companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world’s poor should be satisfied with leftovers,” he said earlier this month.
African leaders pleaded for a chance to buy doses for their populations during a meeting of the African Union this month.
According to an AFP tally drawn from official sources, Africa’s 53 countries, with a population of more than 1.3 billion, have had a total of 10 doses per 100 people.
In contrast, the US and Canada, with a population of just over 368 million, have had 120 doses per 100 people. – AFP, September 26, 2021
