PARIS – Health officials have rolled out more than 500 million coronavirus vaccine doses around the world, according to an AFP tally yesterday, as European rows over hoarding and supply issues escalate dramatically.
Despite the huge effort to get jabs into arms, the Covid-19 pandemic is still surging in Europe and Latin America – where Brazil has now passed 300,000 deaths, and Mexico, 200,000.
And, the vaccine roll-out is chronically unequal, with the United States accounting for more than a quarter of the global total and poorer nations lagging far behind richer ones.
European Union countries are also still struggling to get their inoculation drives off the ground, prompting angry outbursts from the top of French officialdom.
Following an EU summit, French President Emmanuel Macron said there is a “new type of world war”, adding: “We are looking in particular at Russian and Chinese attacks and attempts to gain influence through the vaccine.”
His foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, later chimed in to accuse Britain of “blackmail” in its vaccine dealings with the EU.
However, Moscow – whose Sputnik V shot is being rolled out in numerous countries across the world – quickly rebuffed Macron’s outburst, with Kremlin officials saying they “absolutely disagree”.
And in a sign of Europe’s deepening divisions, Germany said it would be happy to use Sputnik V if the jab gets approval from EU regulators.
Germany also said it has classified France as a high-risk zone, which means travellers need to show a negative Covid-19 test and quarantine upon arrival.
With more than 2.7 million people dead from a virus that first emerged in China in late 2019, leaders everywhere are under pressure to get jabs into arms.
An AFP tally of global vaccinations showed more than 508 million had been administered as of yesterday, with 133 million in the US and 91 million in India.
However, infections continue to rise at a worrying rate, with more than half a million cases recorded worldwide in just the last week, according to AFP data.
‘Biggest genocide’
Vaccines cannot come quickly enough to Brazil, which is suffering unsparingly from an outbreak that has now killed over 300,000 out of 12 million infections.
The political heat was turned up on President Jair Bolsonaro yesterday, when his predecessor accused him of presiding over the “biggest genocide” in the country’s history.
“We must save Brazil from Covid-19,’ said former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, adding: “Brazil will not withstand it if this man continues to govern in this way.”
Further north, Mexico is suffering a brutal third wave, with only a tiny proportion of the population vaccinated so far.
Travel curbs, economic pain
The virus has forced governments in all parts of the world to impose drastic restrictions – from curfews and lockdowns to school closures and travel bans.
Much of Europe is living under a regime that restricts travel and economic activity, and Kenya became the latest African country to order a partial lockdown yesterday, shutting schools and bars in and around the capital, Nairobi.
“I am convinced that the cost of not acting now would be far greater,” said President Uhuru Kenyatta.
From religious festivals to sporting events, dates in the calendar previously regarded as untouchable have succumbed to virus restrictions around the globe.
Indonesia said it is banning people from travelling for a festival known as Mudik at the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, when millions journey often long distances to be with their families.
Such restrictions have brought economic pain to much of the world and forced governments to pass massive stimulus packages, with German lawmakers yesterday giving their backing to an EU-wide plan worth €750 billion (RM3.68 trillion). – AFP, March 27, 2021
