Against Covid-19, "a safe and effective vaccine could be the only tool allowing the world to return to a sense of normalcy," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, hoping before the end. of the year. Such a vaccine " would save millions of lives and countless billions of dollars," he added during a videoconference with the fifty or so African countries members of the Organization. He pleaded for an acceleration of its development and its accessibility to all. It must be "universal" and "allow the pandemic to be controlled" .
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"We need an ambitious effort to guarantee (...) a harmonized, integrated and optimized approach in order to maximize the speed and scale necessary for the universal deployment of such a vaccine by the end of 2020" , he insisted. Antonio Guterres clarified that his call on March 25 for two billion dollars in donations for a vast humanitarian plan of the United Nations in response to the pandemic had allowed to collect so far "about 20%" of this sum.
Thanks to the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN was able to equip 47 African countries with tests for the Covid-19, he also welcomed.
The UN chief also praised the efforts of several African governments to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic, citing Uganda which has postponed a tax to support businesses, Namibia which offers emergency income to workers with lost their jobs, Cape Verde which gives food aid or Egypt which reduced the taxation of industries.
