Marina Artusa
03/24/2021 18:45
Clarín.com
World
Updated 03/24/2021 6:45 PM
“Most of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean
will achieve immunity only in 2023
”, admits Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) during one of the Dialogue sessions of the Fundación Unión European-Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) in which Clarín participated.
"Initiatives
for the financing and equitable distribution
of vaccines against Covid-19 in middle-income countries of Latin America and the Caribbean" was the slogan of this call by the Foundation created in 2010 by the VI Summit of Heads of States and government and in which 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries participate, the 27 members of the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the European Union itself.
"It must be recognized that Latin America and the Caribbean are not going to achieve herd immunity in 2021," says Bárcena regarding that longed-for percentage -between 60 and 70 percent- of the vaccinated population necessary to develop immunity that stops the coronavirus.
"We found asymmetries in access to vaccines
and there are three speeds in vaccination: at the current rate, only four countries in the region can reach immunity in 2021. Another 7 will do so in 2022. Most, in 2023," he details .
Bárcena, who has served as ECLAC's executive secretary since 2008, highlights that “the pandemic has revealed very deep structural weaknesses.
Health must be a human right and there must be universal access to health guaranteed by the State.
It cannot be contributory health, as are pensions, he says.
Health must have universal access.
Public spending on health should be 6 percent and in the region we only reach 2.3 percent ”.
According to ECLAC, as of March 16, Latin America had
7.6 percent of the doses administered in the world
, 88 percent of which are concentrated in four Latin American countries.
For Bárcena,
“there is an international hoarding for access to vaccines
that affects the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and is also generating inequalities within the region.
We have a situation in which a group of developed countries are concentrating 45.5 percent of the purchase commitments even though they only have 12.9 percent of the world population ”.
Organization
“Our region has to organize because Europe has organized.
The United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom have privileged to vaccinate first their population and then the world.
China and Russia
have prioritized exports over
vaccinating their people.
76 percent of the doses that have reached Latin America and the Caribbean come from China and Russia.
This is the reality, ”says Bárcena.
The reference of this United Nations regional commission for economic development distinguishes between access to vaccines and the process of administration to the population: “Israel has applied 109.8 doses per 100 inhabitants;
United States, 33.5 per 100 -enumber-.
In the region, Chile supplied
38.8 doses per 100 people
;
Brazil, 5.6 and Mexico, 3.5 doses of vaccine per 100 inhabitants ”.
“It is necessary to negotiate with countries that are going to have excess vaccines.
Canada and Australia have commitments for six times more than they need,
Bárcena lists.
On the other hand, we also ask for the flexibility of intellectual property regimes.
The temporary suspension of intellectual property rights is very important and we need Europe to join.
Transnational companies are opposed.
We are all trapped there, but Europe can help. "
The executive secretary of ECLAC denounces that secrecy around contracts and prices only hurts the countries most in need: “AstraZeneca costs around two dollars in Europe but
Uganda pays four times more and South Africa, twice as much
.
Moderna costs 15 dollars in the United States but they are going to sell it to the world for 30 ”.
Bárcena is committed to Latin America achieving a regional vaccine system "where the pharmaceutical industry, biochemistry, logistics and transportation
really coordinate
and we can create research and development centers, active ingredients of vaccines, production plants, creation of networks of clinical trial services and effective communication ”, he says.
“We have some initiatives, among others, to strengthen regional coordination mechanisms to acquire vaccines.
Mexico and Argentina have made a commitment to not only produce vaccines for themselves but for the region.
And this is very important ”, he stresses.
-What fiscal reforms does ECLAC recommend for middle-income countries to overcome the economic crisis caused by the pandemic?
-Firstly, it must be recognized that the countries have invested around 4.7 of GDP in transfers and fiscal measures, which has caused them a fiscal deficit.
Therefore, one of the measures we have proposed is to combat tax evasion, which is 6.3 percent of GDP in Latin America and the Caribbean.
We must review the privileges that are legally granted to companies, which is 3.7 percent of GDP, and look for a more progressive tax structure that goes towards direct taxes.
It is difficult now, but it would be necessary to review the taxes to the big digital companies and to pay their taxes in the places where they make their productivity gains.
Madrid. Correspondent
PB
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