New Telegraph

COVID-19: Vaccines shouldn’t be for highest bidders –FG

…asks EU for support relief on commercial debt servicing for Africa

 

The Federal Government has said coronavirus vaccines should not be for the highest bidders but be made available to all countries in affordable and equitable manner.

 

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who spoke at the virtual 2020 EURAFRICA Forum themed “Towards a realistic Euro-African partnership during and beyond the COVID-19 era”, on Friday also pleaded with the European Union (EU) to support the initiative for relief on commercial servicing for African countries.

 

Also featured in the summit were notable world leaders including the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Antonio Guterres, the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Mr. Ulisses Correia Silva, among others speakers.

 

According to a statement Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande made available to newsmen yesterday Osinbajo while speaking on the need for an equitable distribution of vaccines to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, said the first thing that comes to mind “is to ensure widespread and equitable access to a COVID- 19 vaccine.”

 

According to him: “Europe should work closely with Africa to ensure that when a vaccine is finally deployed it should not be on the basis of the highest bidder but rather be made available at an affordable and in an accessible manner.

 

“This is a matter that should not be taken for granted. We saw during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in richer parts of the world, that orders for test kits and reagents by African countries were deemed too small and tended to be ignored.”

 

Further stressing the point in support of Africa and developing countries in general, the Vice President called on the EU Union to support the initiatives aimed at promoting vaccine access to poorer countries.

 

He said “although Nigeria does not have the resources or means to pre-pay for a COVID-19 vaccine, we are fortunate to be a GAVI supported country and we urge the EU to lend support to GAVI’s effort to ensure equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX initiative.

 

This way, poorer countries and their citizens will get the vaccines that they need at the same time as the rest of the world.” Emphasizing the need to review the state of partner-ship between Africa and Europe, the Vice President said the summit offered an opportunity for both continents to share perspectives on matters of mutual interest.

 

According to him, “A global crisis calls for global partnerships. If COVID-19 exists in any part of the world, it remains a significant threat to every part of the world. “The partnership between Africa and the European Union is good platform for both sides to work together on economic recovery and rebuilding of health systems. It is also equally important that we become even stronger advocates for closer international cooperation to tackle the fall out of COVID-19.”

 

Osinbajo also spoke about Nigeria’s efforts in mitigating the impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic on the economy, noting that Nigeria’s “priority is to ward off a deep recession.”

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