Egypt, 7 Other Countries Request Equitable Distribution of Vaccines, Drugs

Sunday, 13 March, 2022 - 

An Egyptian citizen receives the coronavirus vaccine. (Egyptian Health Ministry)
Cairo - Walid Abdulrahman

Egypt, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Senegal, South Africa and Thailand have urged the international community to promote the equitable distribution of vaccines and medicines across the world.

This came in a joint statement issued during the activities of the 49th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Egypt’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva Ahmed Ihab Gamaleldin said the statement underscored the importance of ensuring the fair and equitable access to safe, effective, high-quality and affordable drugs and vaccines.

Less than 15% of the population in low-income countries have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine so far, Gamaleldin warned.

According to a Foreign Ministry statement, Gamaleldin said this access is critical to confront chronic epidemics such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, as well as other diseases.

Cairo called on the international community to create propitious conditions nationally, regionally and internationally, in cooperation with international and civil society organizations, including the private sector, to avoid discrimination and ensure all people’s access to these vaccines and medications.

The joint statement called for enhancing the public health infrastructure and expanding regional and local production by encouraging innovative approaches to global partnerships and technology transfer processes.

It underscored the importance of ensuring people’s immediate access to COVID-19 vaccines, especially to the poor and most vulnerable groups around the world, “to provide safety for all.”

Head of the Human Rights Committee in Egypt’s House of Representatives, MP Tarek Radwan, pointed out that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was keen to turn Egypt into a major regional hub for the manufacture of vaccines to ensure Arab and African countries have access to various types of vaccines to confront the virus.

The Health Ministry reported on Friday 854 new coronavirus cases and eight deaths, raising the infection tally to 495,373, including 424,831 recoveries. While the death toll amounted to 24,277 since the pandemic began in March 2020.