On Thursday 25 February, European leaders reaffirmed their commitment to improve access to Covid-19 vaccines for “priority groups” in neighbouring countries and around the world and to support the global approach through the COVAX Facility.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, noted that “we will not be safe until everyone is safe”. He said he was pleased that the first doses via the COVAX Facility had arrived in Ghana. According to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, more doses will soon reach Côte d’Ivoire.
The French President, Emmanuel Macron, detailed his proposal for Western countries to provide vaccine doses for healthcare workers on the African continent.
For 6.5 million people, “13 million” doses would be needed, which represents “0.43%” of the doses ordered by the EU, the United States, Canada and Japan: “this is a minimal effort” which in no way disrupts our national vaccination campaigns, but “this is the condition for the credibility of the COVAX mechanism”.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, recalled that the European Union had proposed doubling its contribution to COVAX from €500 million to €1 billion (see EUROPE 12662/9). She urged Member States to make use of the solidarity mechanism to provide vaccine doses to non-Member States.
See the Declaration of the EU27: http://bit.ly/2P3UBLu (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with the editorial staff)