GENEVA (dpa-AFX) – The World Health Organization (WHO) is demanding moral pressure from the federal government on the representatives of other industrialized countries at the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria. It is about financing the corona vaccination and care programs around the world. Germany is by far the largest contributor.
“The federal government must clearly say to the others: We paid our fair share, so do you,” said Bruce Aylward, the WHO management team responsible for corona coordination, the German Press Agency. Those who don’t pay their share are free riders. Because the federal government is the only country besides Canada that has paid its fair share, it cannot be afraid to speak from a position of moral authority. Aylward praised the fact that fighting the global pandemic continues to be a priority for Germany, despite the Ukraine crisis.
Aylward coordinates the ACT Accelerator program for the WHO, which, among other things, supplies corona vaccines, diagnostics and tests to poorer countries. In the current annual budget until September 2022 of almost 17 billion dollars (a good 16 billion euros), twelve billion dollars are still missing. According to the WHO, Germany paid more than its fair share at almost 1.3 billion dollars, France is one third, the USA nine percent. The WHO calculated the fair share according to economic performance and share of world trade, among other things.
Funding vaccination campaigns and the distribution of Covid-19 drugs in poorer countries is in the interests of industrialized countries, Aylward stressed. If the pandemic continues unabated in emerging countries, it will also weaken sales markets. In addition, a weak economy there has an impact on the supply chains. And: “If we get further waves of infection, it can lead to unrest,” warned Aylward. “If billions of people are not vaccinated against the corona virus, a new virus variant can form at any time.”
The world must use the relative relaxation of the corona virus in countries with high vaccination rates to contain the virus as much as possible worldwide, said Aylward. “In a war, during a lull in fighting, troops regroup and strengthen their defenses – but we do the opposite and retreat. Instead of taking advantage of the situation, we bury our heads in the sand.”/oe/DP/nas