EU leaders ignore vaccine plea from WHO
Jerome Hughes
Press TV, Brussels
At a summit in Brussels, EU leaders have taken the highly controversial decision to advance plans on the vaccination of children against Covid-19.
The European Commission says more than 300 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine will have been delivered to EU member states by the end of this week.
EU leaders have chosen to completely ignore a plea from the World Health Organization. The WHO clearly states that vaccinating children and other low-risk groups in the EU happens at the expense of health workers and high-risk groups in poorer countries.
The People's Vaccine Alliance is a coalition of more than 50 organisations. In an extensive survey of epidemiologists, commissioned by the alliance, two-thirds warned mutations could render current Covid vaccines ineffective within a year. Hence the need, they stress, to vaccinate the world, not just rich countries.
EU leaders are under enormous pressure to somehow save the bloc's floundering economy and they see the vaccination of their own people as the key. Millions have lost their jobs in the EU. Young adults have been worst affected. Experts we have been speaking to say the EU has given young people limited skills, particularly when it comes to the digital economy.
The EU is facing unparalleled economic and social crises. Critics say the vaccine rollout was happening much too slowly. Now, as it speeds up, it is perpetrating "scandalous inequality" in the context of poorer countries, according to the WHO.
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