The presidents of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, and the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, complained yesterday about the vaccine distribution mechanism of the World Health Organization (WHO), COVAX, because, as they stated, ” it is a failure “.
In a dialogue between leaders at the closing of the XIII Iberoamerican Business Meeting of Andorra, both were dissatisfied with the distribution of serums through this fund driven by public and private actors which aims to ensure equitable access for all countries.
The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa, as well as the President of this country, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Head of the Government of Andorra, Xavier Espot, also took part in this dialogue. and was moderated by Latin American Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan.
“The COVAX system has been a failure, I myself have said it protesting against this irresponsibility, where a small group of countries have all the vaccines and the large number we do not have access to,” Giammattei protested.
The president stated that of the three million doses that had to reach Guatemala through this mechanism, “They only got 81,000” and already got more -200,000- through a direct deal with India.
“We bought Sputnik out of the COVAX mechanisms, which is a failure, we need a more supportive world,” he added.
For his part, the Dominican leader shared the opinion of his counterpart and explained that his country had already applied for “being able to have a patent agreement to be able to produce” at the national level.
“It wasn’t achieved, I understand that every country wants to have vaccines for its people first, but I think we lacked creativity in that regard,” Abinader considered.