The EU and the African Union (AU) Commissions, like the WHO, are supporting the call for donations of Covid-19 vaccine doses to Africa, launched by Emmanuel Macron to the G7, and are intensifying their campaign - including the press one - in favour of vaccination on the continent through the immediate sharing of doses via the COVAX initiative, led by the WHO, GAVI and CEPI (see EUROPE 12662/9).
This is evidenced by an op-ed published in Le Monde and Der Spiegel, on Thursday 25 February, the day after the first delivery of 600,000 doses to Ghana, on the eve of another to Côte d’Ivoire and on the day of an informal European Council (see other news).
“The European Council will meet today. We call on it to allow the COVAX mechanism to be immediately ramped up through the donation of doses in order to protect African populations and healthcare workers as quickly as possible, as a matter of priority”, write the WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, the Secretary General of the Organisation de la Francophonie, Louise Mushikiwabo, and MEP Chrysoula Zacharopoulou (Renew Europe, France), rapporteur to the European Parliament on the future EU-Africa strategy.
On Tuesday, at the launch of the Global Citizen campaign ‘to end Covid-19 for all and kickstart a global recovery’, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she supported Mr Macron’s call. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)