translated from Spanish: PAHO calls for access to a Covid-19 vaccine not to depend on the country’s wealth

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) called on Tuesday to “not allow” access to a future SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to depend on a country’s ability to pay.
“We cannot allow access to the vaccine to be related to a country’s ability to pay. It is very important, and one of the pillars of our organization, solidarity and making everyone have access to this vaccine when it is ready,” PAHO’s deputy director Jarbas Barbosa said at a telematics press conference.
Barbosa was concerned that a future method of immunization would not reach the continent’s poorest countries, where, according to the institution, the 2 million cases of coronavirus have already been exceeded and more than 121,000 died by COVID-19, most of them in the US.
It also noted that PAHO had already worked with “international partners” to give countries in the region access to the vaccine when available.
This statement comes after the US pharmaceutical company Moderna announced on Monday that the first human-proven vaccine to fight SARS-CoV-2 achieved a “positive” result in the first phase of its clinical experimentation, thus demonstrating “potential to prevent COVID-19 disease.”
Regarding transmission of the virus, PAHO Director Dr. Carissa F. Etienne explained that the virus continues to grow in America, as there has been a 14% increase in the number of reported cases and deaths in the last week.
In this regard, it expressed particular concern with the impact that coronavirus is having among the poor and other vulnerable groups, such as indigenous communities, women, Afro-descendants and migrants.
“If we want to accelerate the de-escalate of the pandemic, we must protect the most vulnerable groups in COVID-19,” he said.
Etienne therefore advocated the need to establish universal health systems to address this and other health crises.
“An emergency response can only be based on a system that adapts to the needs of all, where barriers to access, whether cultural, economic or social, have been removed and primary care is the basis of the response,” he said.
After the United States, which with 1.5 million cases and 90,400 deaths tops the world list, the country in America most affected by the pandemic is Brazil, 253,000 contagions and 16,941 dead, followed by Peru (94,933 cases and 2,789 victims), Canada (74,411 and 5,960), Mexico (94,933 cases and 2,789 victims), Canada (74,411 and 5,960), Mexico (94,933 cases and 2,789 victims), Canada (74,411 and 5,960), Mexico (94,960) 51,933 and 5,332), Chile (46,059 and 478), Ecuador (33,582 and 2,799) and Colombia (15,295 and 592 deaths).
The other Latin American countries, according to these figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University, have fewer than 15,000 cases and 500 deaths.

Original source in Spanish

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