Borrell urges world community to abandon ‘vaccine nationalism’

Fighting the spread of the coronavirus requires international cooperation, and countries need to refrain from ‘vaccine nationalism’ - the desire to keep vaccines for themselves, EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell said, Report informs referring to TASS.

“The EU welcomes the $50 billion plan proposed by the International Monetary Fund in order to be able to vaccinate 40 percent of the world population in 2021 and 60 percent by mid-2022. To achieve this goal, we need closely coordinated multilateral action. We must resist the threats posed by 'vaccine diplomacy,' linking the provision of vaccines to political goals, and “vaccine nationalism,” reserving vaccines for oneself. In contrast to others, the EU has rejected both since the beginning of the pandemic,” Borrell noted.

“We need to close the vaccination gap between advanced economies and developing countries to avoid what Tedros Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, has called 'vaccination apartheid,'” he added.

If the vaccination gap persists, it risks reversing the trend in recent decades of declining poverty and global inequalities, Borrell said.