EU and Pharmaceutical Companies Support COVID-19 Vaccines for Developing Countries, Opposing Health Nationalism

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Major countries including the European Union (EU) have pledged to support vaccines for middle- and low-income countries to prevent COVID-19.

On the 21st (local time), according to AFP and other sources, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, announced at a virtual global health summit that at least 100 million doses of vaccines will be donated to middle- and low-income countries by the end of this year. The donations will be made through the international vaccine procurement and distribution project led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the 'COVAX Facility.' This includes 30 million doses each pledged by France and Germany.

The EU has decided to invest 1 billion euros (approximately 1.4 trillion KRW) to support the construction of vaccine manufacturing plants in Africa. President von der Leyen stated, "COVID-19 vaccines must be supplied to everyone, everywhere in the world," and added, "We firmly oppose health nationalism."

Chinese President Xi Jinping also announced that China will provide international aid worth 3 billion dollars (approximately 3.4 trillion KRW) over the next three years for the international community's joint response to COVID-19 and will supply more vaccines abroad.

Global pharmaceutical companies producing vaccines have agreed to allocate up to 3.5 billion doses to underdeveloped countries by next year. Pfizer plans to supply a total of 2 billion doses to underdeveloped countries by next year, including 1 billion doses this year through COVAX and other channels. Moderna has pledged to provide about 1 billion doses to underdeveloped countries, including 95 million doses this year and 900 million doses next year. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) also signed a contract to supply 200 million doses to COVAX this year and is negotiating the additional supply of 300 million doses. The pharmaceutical companies intend to supply these doses at cost or below cost.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) proposed raising a fund of 50 billion dollars (56.3 trillion KRW) to achieve the goal of vaccinating 60% of the global population by the end of 2022.

Recently, in Africa, where many underdeveloped countries are concentrated, the vaccinated population accounts for less than 2% of the total, whereas in the United States, more than 40% of the population, and in Europe, more than 20%, have received at least one dose of the vaccine. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the generous measures announced by the EU and other major countries and vaccine manufacturers but pointed out that "hundreds of millions of additional vaccine doses will be needed over the coming months."

Meanwhile, the meeting was attended by G20 heads of state, senior government officials, and heads of 12 international organizations including the WHO. After the meeting, a joint declaration was adopted for the international community’s collective response to the pandemic and prevention efforts. It included 16 principles such as efforts to distribute vaccines worldwide through donations, increased production, lifting export bans, strengthening global healthcare systems, and establishing a pandemic alert system. Temporary waiver of vaccine intellectual property rights was not included in the joint declaration.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.