In an interview with AFP, the president of the Red Cross criticizes the vaccine strategy of Western countries, which deprive the poorest countries of vaccines and promote the appearance of variants such as Omicron.
Posted
Reading time : 1 min.
The emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is the “ultimate proof” of the danger of inequalities in the face of vaccination in the world, the president of the Red Cross said on Friday, December 3. “Scientists have repeatedly warned the international community of the risks of very new variants in places with very low vaccination rates.”, Francesco Rocca, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told AFP.
According to UN statistics, around 65% of people in more developed countries have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, compared to just 7% in less developed countries. Western countries have been accused of stockpiling vaccines and the WHO has urged them not to rush to do third doses when millions of people around the world have yet to receive the first. “It is a selfish approach on the part of the western community and a truly blind approach.”, criticized Francesco Rocca on Friday.
“It’s amazing that we still don’t realize how interconnected we are. That’s why I call the Omicron variant the ultimate proof.” inequalities in the face of vaccination, he continued. Omicron, a highly mutated version of the coronavirus, was first reported in South Africa on November 24 and is now present in several dozen countries. It sparked a new wave of travel restrictions and called into question the global economic recovery. It could be the cause of more than half of the cases of Covid-19 in Europe in the coming months.