Some 180 countries out of the 193 members of the UN have signed a political declaration initiated by Lebanon committing them to promote equitable access to anti-Covid-19 vaccines, the United Nations said on Friday March 26.
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The subject of a meeting of the UN General Assembly, this text entitled "
Political declaration on global and equitable access to vaccines against Covid-19
" has not won the support of 13 States, including the North Korea, Burma, Benin, Burundi, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syria and the Seychelles.
Equipped with observer status, the Vatican and Palestine also did not sign the declaration on Friday.
"
We are deeply concerned that despite international agreements, initiatives and general declarations, the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines remains uneven around the world, both between countries and within countries
" , underlines the text.
The concern also relates to "
the fact that a considerable number of countries do not yet have access to Covid-19 vaccines
" and the signatory countries "
stress the need for global solidarity and multilateral cooperation to increase the regional and global vaccine production and distribution
”.
"A global public good"
To this end, "
we are committed to treating the vaccination against Covid-19 as a global public good by guaranteeing affordable, equitable and fair access to vaccines for all, Covax being the appropriate mechanism to guarantee it
", specifies the text.
The signatories "
actively
encourage
the sharing of vaccine doses from all countries in a position to do so, to low- and middle-income countries and other countries in need
."
The declaration also underlines the signatories' commitment to "
solidarity and the intensification of international cooperation
" to ensure protection for all "
whatever their nationality or place of residence and without any form of discrimination
".
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